Growing
by lsd3
Summary: Everything has a chance to grow...people grow...plants grow...hair grows...and even friendship can grow. Mainly SK, some RN. Full Summary inside. [COMPLETED.]
1. Chapter 1: Evil English Essay

**ATTENTION:** For those few that have already read my story the first **THREE chapters** **are just the first one split into 3 PARTS**. I did this because I realized the first chapter was just way too long and was probably annoying. The FOURTH chapter is where you should start for those of you **who have already read the story when the 1st chapter was LONG.** And for those of you who HAVEN'T read the story…please ignore this? Okay? Great! On with the story!

Disclaimer: Psh…I WISH I owned kingdom hearts, but sadly I don't…like everyone else in this site.

Summary: Sora gets in trouble in English class and has to write a 20 page report! With the help of Kairi will things start to flourish?

Sora: 16  
Kairi: 16  
Roxas: 16  
Namine: 16  
Riku: 17

Growing:  
**Chapter 1: Evil English Essay**

English class was always the most boring class of the day…and unfortunately for Sora it was also his last class, which just made it worse. The teacher,  
Mrs. **Oni**wa droned on about grammar and how to identify an independent and a dependent clause in a sentence. He hated grammar. It was his worst  
subject ever and it was probably one of the most boring subjects too. Who literally cared about independent and dependent clauses? It's not like while  
Sora was reading a book he'd suddenly shout out, "MRS. ONIWA I FOUND AN INDEPENDENT CLAUSE!" Yes…grammar was pointless in life.

He stared at the clock hoping that the last 10 minutes of class might pass by faster if he stared at the clock…but sadly his staring contest with the clock to  
make it pass by faster wasn't working at all.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick

Plop…_'What the…?'_ Sora thought as he noticed a small, folded, neatly, square shaped piece of loose leaf. He smiled to himself obviously knowing where it came from. He looked to his left to see Kairi smiling at him and giving him a small wave. Her crimson hair had grown over the years and was already past  
her shoulders a little bit. Her eyes still had that same beautiful blue shine in them that glistened in the light.

He laughed quietly so the teacher wouldn't hear him while she droned on and on. His big cobalt blue eyes that resembled the sea, glanced around left to  
right to make sure nobody noticed the letter Kairi threw at him. His light brown hair that stuck up every way possible swayed in every direction he turned,  
as he searched to make sure no one noticed, but to his luck everyone was already asleep in boredom from Mrs. Oniwa's lecture on grammar.  
He opened up the letter slowly and read three simple words written down.  
**  
I. Am. Bored.**

Sora chuckled again, but this time Mrs. Oniwa heard him and turned around swiftly.

"Found something funny there Sora?" Mrs. Oniwa asked venomously.

"No Ma'am." Sora replied quickly. She eyed him suspiciously and noticed something in his hand.

"What's that in your hand? A letter! Give it here!" Mrs. Oniwa commanded. Sora glanced at Kairi who had a guilty look on her face. Slowly and with much

reluctance he went up and handed the teacher the note.

"Here," Sora mumbled as he gave it to her.

"Very nice note Sora. Class would you like to hear it?" Mrs. Oniwa asked…

Sora turned around to find the class awake. '_Oh yeah…NOW they wake up_.' Sora thought.

"Oh what a nice sentence. It says…I AM BORED. Well Sora if you're SO BORED why don't I give you something to do over the weekend. Let's say a…20 page story with your choice on the topic. If you fail to do this or get a bad grade then you fail this quarter. You'll be so busy writing and not being bored  
this weekend. Don't you agree? And…oh my what a coincidence today IS Friday," Mrs. Oniwa pointed out rather rudely.

Now he knew why her last name was **Oni**wa (Oni means devil in Japanese).

"Ring! Ring!" the bell rang throughout the building signaling the end of school. Sora sighed in relief as he grabbed his backpack and zoomed out of the

classroom. '_This is just great…my nice weekend is killed!'_ Sora thought angrily.

"Sora! Wait up!" Kairi shouted as she ran toward him. Her plaid skirt bounced a bit as she ran to catch up to him. (A/n: picture her school uniform from  
kingdom hearts 2)

"What…?" Sora asked gloomily.

"I'm so sorry Sora. I didn't mean to get you in trouble. _Please_ forgive me?"

"Whatever Kairi it's no big deal…" Sora replied waving his hand in the air.

"But it is a big deal! Sora, you're almost failing English; it's your worst subject. If you fail this, you fail the quarter, Sora! I can't have that happen. I'd feel  
so guilty about it! Let me help you write it this weekend! _Please?_" Kairi pleaded. This was the typical Kairi. She had a huge heart and always helped  
people.

"No Kairi. You already got me in trouble…I don't want to kill your weekend. It's my fault for laughing so loud anyway." Sora explained.

"Come on Sora…I can help!" Kairi exclaimed and pouted in frustration.

Sora tried to think of a quick lie that could end the conversation fast, "Well you see…but…my mom—"

"Sora don't even try. I know your family! And I know they wouldn't mind having me over. We've known each other since were babies. I'm practically her  
adopted daughter."  
_  
'Damn it! She knows me too well!'_

"Kairi I don't want you to waste your weekend helping me when you can be having fun! So please just have fun?" Sora begged.

"_Please? Please _let me help you. _Please?_" Kairi pleaded with a extra special pout she only used on Sora to get what she wanted.

'_Oh god no…I can't stand it when she pouts and says please. She looks so…' _Sora didn't bother to finish his train of thought and blushed a bit, but it was barely noticeable. "Kairi," he whined, "I can't have you ruining your weekend. I really don't mind doing this 20 page story."

"I know you _do_ mind Sora. Just _please…?_ I feel so bad and English is my best subject so I could help."

'_Must resist…' _Sora thought, but he truly wanted her to be with him this weekend. It actually sounded kind of…fun…if she was there. She always managed to brighten things. "Oh alright," Sora finally gave in.

"Yay!" Kairi squealed as she gave him a hug, "Okay I'm going to go home and get changed and then meet back at your place. See ya later!" Kairi waved  
good-bye and started to walk to her house, which was almost next door to Sora's.

"God why didn't I just say no? Now she'll be bored this whole weekend and it's all my fault…" Sora mumbled.

"HEY SORA!" a boy with long silver hair shouted.

Sora jumped for a second and his train of thought was broken once again.

"What do you want Riku?" Sora asked sourly.

"What's your problem?" Riku asked as he raised an eyebrow at Sora strangely.

"Nothing…anyway what do you want?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out with me, Roxas, and Namine this weekend. Roxas is teaching Namine how to skateboard. Can you picture  
that? Namine? Skateboard? Yeah it doesn't seem to match, but she begged him and he just couldn't say no."

"Wait a minute…I thought Roxas doesn't let anyone touch his skateboard…" Sora pointed out.

"I don't know. Anyway can you come?" Riku asked.

"Uhh…I can't…" Sora replied as he looked down at his shoes.

"Why?" Riku asked inquisitively.

"I'm hanging out with Kairi this weekend," Sora muttered quickly.

"A-HA! I knew you'd finally have the guts to ask her out SOMEDAY—"

"RIKU! It's not a date SHUT UP!" Sora interrupted trying to explain.

"What? Sora and Kairi are on a date?" A blonde boy with spiky hair similar to Sora's, but not as large, asked. His light blue eyes widened in shock as he  
just registered what he heard.

"Finally…" A girl with long blonde hair and light blue eyes said.

"Roxas! Namine! Shut up! It's not a date! I-got-in-trouble-in-class-because-Kairi-was-passing-notes-to-me-and-now-I-have-to-write-a-20-page-report-and-  
she-felt-guilty-so-she-decided-to-help!" Sora rambled quickly.

"So you and Kairi are on a date?" Riku asked loudly.

A group of gossiping girls turned to stare at Sora since they overheard. They giggled a bit and started walking once again.

"Great now THEY heard it!" Sora yelled. "Man this weekend is going to suck I have to write a 20 page report!"

"Was it Mrs. Oniwa?" Riku asked quietly. Sora merely nodded and Riku threw his head back in laughter. "KNEW IT! That witch failed me last year."

"Then why are you in normal English?" Sora asked inquisitively as his eyebrows raised in shock.

"Oh I bribed this lady to put me into normal English for my grade…" Riku's mouth formed an evil smirk. Namine gasped in shock at what Riku had done,

while Sora just laughed. He knew Riku too well and never underestimated his actions.

"Really? Who is she? Can I do that?" Sora asked hopefully.

"Oh no she got fired…" Riku explained casually.

"What? How?" Sora asked as his hopes sunk down once again.

"She was fired for putting me into normal English and getting bribed by me," Riku pointed out as Roxas and Namine started laughing.

"Typical Riku…" Namine laughed.

"I have to get home now…" Roxas reminded impatiently.

"Yeah same…" Namine added glancing at Roxas.

"Alright bye! See you tomorrow!" Riku yelled waving frantically at them like a lunatic.

"Bye!" Namine and Roxas said at the same time as they walked away together.

"They're awfully suspicious…" Sora mumbled.

"So are you! You're the one who likes Kairi, but won't admit it," Riku yelled.

"I DON'T LIKE—" But as hard as Sora tried to say it he couldn't. He couldn't deny the fact that he didn't like Kairi, because he did (as a friend he _thought_)  
…he just wasn't sure how much…that's all. Sora had known Kairi since he was born.  
Their parents were best friends and they ended up becoming close. They've been best friends for 16 whole years. When Sora and Kairi were 5 they met Riku. Then when they went to middle school they met Roxas and Namine.

Roxas and Namine had been best friends when they were born too, similar to Sora and Kairi.

"See…you just admitted it. You can't say you don't like her because you DO like her." Riku smirked like he turned into Thomas Edison and invented the light bulb. Sora just rolled his eyes at him

"Don't you have a home to be getting to? Or did your mom kick you out again?" Sora asked jokingly.

"Don't you have a date to be going to with Kairi?" Riku retorted smartly as he smirked in pride.

"SHUT UP! IT'S NOT A DATE!" Sora denied as a whole bunch of people started staring at him again. "I'm leaving! BYE!"

Riku started laughing that his stomach started hurting as he watched Sora stomp away.

"Stupid Riku…" Sora muttered to himself as he walked home.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
I hope you guys liked this chapter.

x3,  
LJ


	2. Chapter 2: Time to Procrastinate?

Disclaimer: I don't own kingdom Hearts! No need to rub it in!

Growing  
**Chapter 2: Time to Procrastinate!**

He was already close to his house. All he needed to do was go up the pavement and unlock his door.

Today Sora's parents wouldn't be home because they were going out to dinner with Kairi's parents. It was a typical Friday night tradition. Their parents would go out for dinner, while Sora, Kairi, Riku, Roxas, and Namine would hang out.

Sora fiddled with his keys as he unlocked the door. He took off his tie nearly ripping the thing off and threw off his shirt as he entered his home, which left Sora shirtless. He headed straight for the kitchen to grab some chips. He was used to being home alone on Friday's and this was his usual schedule.

"God damn it why is it so hot?" Sora complained grumpily as he turned up the air conditioning and sat down on one of the kitchen seats. He was unaware of his surroundings as he started to think of how crappy his weekend had turned out and how bored he'd be writing this stupid 20 page story.

"Sora…?" A sweet, angelic voice asked as the girl started to come near the kitchen.

"Oh crap…" Sora gulped as he dropped a few chips. He completely forgot that Kairi was coming over to help him write his stupid 20 page story that he didn't even want to start.

"Sora! What are you doing?" Kairi lectured in her pink dress (A/n: picture Kairi's pink dress from Kingdom hearts 2) "You're supposed to be preparing to do your 20 page story and put on some clothes!" Kairi blushed a bit, but she wasn't sure if it was from anger or embarrassment. _'God he's really, really, toned and muscular…god it's kinda ho—_'

"_Kairiiiii_," Sora whined.

"You heard me Sora! We've got to go do some work," Kairi commanded as she snapped out of her trance and stopped staring at Sora. "I'm not going to be the cause of your F this quarter."

"But you won't be…it'll be my fault…all my fault I'll even sign on it! IT WAS MY FAULT!"

"Let's go Sora…" Kairi said impatiently as she tapped her foot looking at him with a strong glare that kind of said to him 'if-you-don't-get-a-move-on-it-I'll-kill-you.'

Sora sighed as he walked to his room drudgingly and started to put on some clothes and start the horrific 20-page story that Mrs. Oniwa assigned him. He picked his typical black outfit. It was a pair of baggy black pants and a vest over a T-shirt. (a/n: picture Sora's typical outfit in Kingdom hearts 2)

"Okay I'm changed let's get started…" Sora stated with a tad bit of annoyance in his voice, but he didn't mind Kairi's company with him.

"Alright so we have to make it like super good okay? Mrs. Oniwa is a harsh grader. Now we need to make the topic a good topic…like a memoir or a short story. You should write about 10 extra pages to impress Mrs. Oniwa. She'd definitely give you a bonus and she can't take off points for overwriting…I mean teachers love it when you do more work then needed…"

Sora wasn't paying attention to what Kairi was saying at all. All he saw was her lips moving up and down. They were a nice shade of light pink and they seemed sort of shiny in a way. He was admiring the way they moved so gracefully and so beautifully…it was almost as if she sang, while she talked.

"So that's not so bad right?" Kairi asked.

"Not so bad at all…" Sora complimented looking at her lips, not at all talking about the 20 page story.

"Good so let's get started," Kairi smiled at Sora, "What topic should we pick? It's always easiest to write what you've experienced or what you know. So it would be easiest to do a memoir or write a fictional story that you could relate to. So let's pick something like that. Is that good?"

Sora shook his head a bit to concentrate harder, "Oh yeah sure…uhh…how about the time I scored my first goal in soccer!" Sora suggested "brilliantly."

"Do you think that'll take up 30 pages?" Kairi asked.

"Fine you have a point…why don't I just make up my own story?" Sora questioned.

"That's a great idea." Kairi approved.

"Well then I'll need my inspiration now won't I?" Sora asked deviously as he jumped up and ran toward the TV as fast as he could.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted trying to catch up to him. Sora was already lying down on the couch taking up at least 3 seats as he turned on the TV and was trying to flip the channel to one of his favorite shows before Kairi could stop him, but she grabbed the remote and sat on him. She straddled herself on him with one leg on each side of him and she was facing him.

"KAIRI!" Sora yelled.

"No you don't Sora! I will not allow you to watch TV! We need to get to work," Kairi explained logically, "Now I wouldn't want you to fail and you wouldn't want to either so let's go back to work."

"Come on Kai my brain is empty I need inspiration!"

"How's this for inspiration?" Kairi joked as she punched Sora in the arm.

"Oh yeah Kai that really hurt right now…oww I feel the pain…" Sora joked back sarcastically.

"Shut up. I'm going to drag you back to your room to finish that story this instant!" Kairi declared.

"Want a bet?" Sora asked and before Kairi could think of a smart retort or defend herself Sora flipped her over and now he was on top of her. He started tickling her in victory. He knew her weak spots were under her neck and right on her ribcages. He first attacked the ribcages first since they were easier to access. He smirked as she started laughing and screaming, begging him to stop.

"Sora! Soraaaaaa—st—stop. It…ti—tickles. So—sora…you're gr—grade…is…o—n…the l—line…you ca—can't…fa—fail…" Kairi giggled trying to explain herself.

He started laughing as he saw her struggling. Sora paused for a second to regain his composure, but during that quick time Kairi wriggled out from underneath him and ran downstairs fast so that he couldn't catch up to her, but Sora was fast and grabbed a pillow and zoomed downstairs. He slid on the railing and followed Kairi to the basement. It was dark and quiet…he didn't hear her. She was hiding somewhere and he didn't know where.

"Kairi! Kairi! Where are you? You can hide all you want, but I'll find you…after all this IS my house you know!" Sora yelled. He walked deeper into the darkness of his own basement with the pillow in his hand preparing his reflexes for a quick defense. Suddenly…

BAM! "GOTCHA SORA!" Kairi screamed as she jumped on his back and covered his eyes. Sora almost lost his balance, but stood up again.

"Kai I don't know where I'm going!" Sora argued.

"Gee that's kind of the point…" Kairi joked.

"OUCH!" Sora screamed as he banged on something roughly.

"Oh yeah watch out for that table," Kairi started laughing, "I am so the winner!" Kairi proclaimed.

"Oh really?" Sora asked as he started tickling her ribcages again, and she squirmed around his back.

"So—Sora! STOP!" Kairi screamed as she jumped off him and grabbed his pillow. "A-HA! Who's the winner now!"

"You give me back my pillow!" Sora demanded.

"Aww….Sora's wittle pillow," Kairi faked in a baby voice.

"Be quiet Kai! Give it back now! Please?" Sora asked.

"Only if you can get it from me!" Kairi yelled as Sora charged at her. She dodged it, but barely. "HAHA! YOU can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man!" Kairi imitated the gingerbread man as she ran upstairs and dodged Sora.

"I'm going to get you Kai!"

So for about an hour Kairi and Sora chased each other around the house and played games. Even though they were 16 there was still a part of them that acted like they were rather 6 than 16, but it was another fun part of their friendship.  
They were lying on Sora's bed panting. In Kairi's hands she was clutching the big fluffy blue pillow that was Sora. Sora was lying next to her panting heavily with his eyes almost drooping shut.

"Ka—Kai…I'm so tired…" Sora panted.

"I—I kn—know…man I'm so dirty…I need to take a shower…" Kairi barely said above a whisper.

He smiled at her. He couldn't resist it. It was tugging at his lips and he grinned at her. He wanted to lean in and kiss her…and he was starting to gently lean forward. The way her eyes were slowly starting to close from all the running they did. How she smiled when she clutched his pillow tighter because it was almost a trophy signifying she won. The way her beautiful crimson hair delicately lied on the bed and how her body was close to his.  
And that's when it hit him. He found his inspiration. **She **was his inspiration. He felt the urge to start writing now because if he didn't he was afraid he might loose it.

"Sora…? Sora…?" Kairi asked waving a hand in front of his face interrupting his thoughts.

"Ye—yeah?" Sora asked as he quickly leaned back.

"I'm going to go shower and then go home. It's getting late. I can't believe we got nothing done! We didn't do anything at all! I feel so bad! Okay tomorrow we're going to do a lot of work okay? To make up for today," Kairi explained as she got up and walked to the shower.

"Huh? Oh what. Yeah sure…you know where the shower is," Sora mumbled not really paying attention.

"Of course I do…I've been to your house like what…? A million times? Like literally!" Kairi joked as she walked to the shower.

Once Kairi was out of the room Sora jumped in front of his computer and opened up Microsoft word. He started typing at ferocious speed that he didn't even realize he could type that fast.

He had been typing his story for 40 minutes straight as Kairi came out of the shower (oblivious to Sora's writing inspiration). She sighed in relief as she started to change back into her pink dress, but changed her mind. Under her pink dress she had a pale white dress. She decided to just wear that since it was hot in Sora's house from all the running.

She tried to dry her hair, but failed miserably. She decided to just throw it up in a ponytail. When she exited the bathroom she noticed the large amounts of steam that flowed out and she tried to blow them with her mouth just for fun.

"Click. Click."

Kairi paused for a second as she heard clicking…was Sora writing on the computer? Did he suddenly start to write without her? No…impossible. Sora was a lazy bum/procrastinator. He always did things last minute and usually lacked in the motivation department for English class.

"Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click." The typing became faster and quicker. Kairi's curiosity grew with each click. She walked inside Sora's room to see what he was writing. She glanced at the computer screen and tried to see as much as she could, but she only read one sentence.  
**  
"I want to line the pieces up. Yours and Mine."  
**  
"WHOA KAI!" Sora shouted as he minimized the program and fell off his chair.

"What's wrong Sora? Is it a personal thing?" Kairi asked, "Cause it makes me want to read it even more."

Sora didn't know why he was embarrassed for Kairi to read it, but he just was and he didn't want her to read it…not yet at least. Maybe when the time was right, but then again, how would he know when the right time was?

"Kai…you can't read it now…not until it's finished okay?"

"Aww, but Sora I was supposed to help you!" Kairi begged.

"Kai don't worry. I want you to have a fun weekend. I'll promise you I'll read you the story once I'm done. I uhh…well I don't want to spoil the story for you okay?" Sora explained.

"Oh…alright…" Kairi sighed. "If you insist."

"So let's just hang out for a while…how's that?" Sora asked, "Scary movie?"

"Although I rather read your story that you've been typing out for quite a while…I guess I wouldn't mind watching a movie, but not a SCARY one!" Kairi decided.

"Kai! You fun killer!" Sora teased, "What? What? You too scared to watch a scary movie? Brave little Kaikai is scared of a wittle scary movie."

"Don't call me KaiKai!" Kairi insisted, "And I am not scared of a stupid scary movie."

"KaiKai is SCARED!" Sora jumped around teasing.

"I am so NOT scared!" Kairi exclaimed defiantly.

"Prove it," Sora declared as he gave her a smirk. He knew he finally had her in his grip.

"Don't you have to finish your story?" Kairi asked smugly.  
_  
'Damn it she's still too smart for me_'

Kairi giggled as she saw Sora's face fall. That smirk was wiped off of his face and he just stared at her blankly.

"Oh well I wouldn't really _mind_ watching a scary movie just as long as **you're** there." Kairi explained as she skipped out to the living room in search of  
scary movies that they could watch.

Sora once again had another inspiration to write. He knew he could only take 5 minutes maximum to write again, but it was insistent. He logged onto his computer fast and wrote a whole page full of inspiration. He then walked out of his room calmly.

"What took ya so long Sora?" Kairi asked as she flipped through the collection of DVD's that Sora owned. She tossed one to the side and then kept looking.

"So have you decided yet?" Sora asked.

"It really IS a shame that I can't read your story, but since you won't let me and we haven't done anything this WHOLE ENTIRE DAY…" Kairi rubbed in annoyance, "We might as well watch THIS scary movie." Kairi picked up the Grudge Two in Japanese and tossed the cover at Sora's head so the nice, big, SCARY cover of the **GRUDGE **was right in front of his face.

"Yo! WATCH IT KAIRI!" Sora exclaimed a little freaked by the cover and tossed it under a blanket.

"Yeah so now who's a WITTLE scared?" Kairi retorted as she smirked at Sora's childish antics.

"Shut up Kai…anyway what do you want to eat for dinner?" Sora asked as he walked over to the kitchen to check the cabinets and fridge.

"Let's be rebels and have ice cream!" Kairi suggested in a hyper tone, "I mean REALLY…our parents aren't home and we're watching a really scary movie and we haven't even really gotten that much progress on your 20 page story…so might as well keep the rebel streak going on!"

"Oh shame, shame, shame! Naught Kai is it?" Sora suggested winking.

"Don't get your thoughts too dirty there Sora," Kairi joked as they both started laughing.

"You only WISH I'd dream of you like that…" Sora scoffed back jokingly.

"You only WISH that I'd wish I'd dream of you like that…" Kairi retorted as she started giggling. Sora didn't exactly comprehend what she said, but he took that answer as a 'yeah I won Sora. Get over it' type of response.

Sora grabbed a whole bunch of ice cream and spoons as Kairi set up the DVD inside the DVD player. She smacked her forehead gently in frustration as she tried to get it to work. Finally she found the play button and the movie began with ice cream and a blanket to keep them warm.

"OUCH!" Kairi yelped, "Sora I'm sitting on this scary cover!" Kairi quickly threw the cover far away.

"Heh…sorry?" Sora apologized as they sat close and ate ice cream. Even before the movie began they had finished 2 cartons of ice cream together.

"Sora I wanted more of your brownie ice cream…" Kairi whined.

"Yeah well I would've let you take some if you didn't finish all the chocolate chip and cookie dough ice cream!" Sora retorted.

"Gee bitter much?" Kairi asked, but quickly shushed herself as the movie started to begin and play on for most of the night.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kairi screamed as the grudge almost killed yet ANOTHER girl. Kairi clung onto Sora's arm tightly and buried her face behind his back. Sora had no complaints at all and made a mental note to watch scary movies more often.

"And you thought **I** was scared?" Sora asked.

"Well I wasn't the one who screamed like a girl when you saw that little boy meowing. You practically clung onto my leg and I had to wring you off."

"I thought it was your ARM. Your legs are too thin…I couldn't tell if it was your arm or your leg," Sora explained logically as Kairi rolled her eyes, but quickly stopped as she saw the grudge sneaking to kill someone

"Uh oh...Oh…" Kairi whispered.

"My…" Sora continued as they both shivered and clung onto each other with their eyes wide open as the grudge was about to eat another person in a brutal manner.

"GOSH!" Kairi and Sora screamed at the same time as they tried to duck underneath the blanket, but their heads hit. Kairi dove under Sora quickly and Sora felt her underneath him. His breath quickened a bit, but he kind of enjoyed the closeness.

The movie suddenly came to a close and the screen turned black, but soon the credits started to roll. Everything was silent as the fright of the movie kept replaying in their heads.

"Scary movie huh Kai?" Sora asked nudging Kairi a bit.

"Mmm?" Kairi asked half asleep. She licked her lips and mumbled some words of incoherence. Sora just smiled at how cute she looked when she was asleep. She was now lying on top of Sora's legs and her head was on his stomach. Sora was lying face up now. He tried to move from under Kairi, but when he tried to bend his knee up to help balance himself he slipped and ended up slipping farther under.

Again the temptation to kiss her was almost irresistible as he noticed the closeness proximity of them both. He also noticed how shiny and pink her lips were once again.  
_  
'Must resist…_' Sora thought, but he also felt his eyes droop down and he slowly fell asleep with Kairi underneath him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Cute chapter right? Sorry if I confused people with the whole first chapter split into 3. This is my first KH fic so cut me some slack cause I know I suck!

x3,  
LJ


	3. Chapter 3: Wake Up Time!

Disclaimer: SADLY I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS! (Although in my dreams I pretend I do!)

Growing  
**Chapter 3: Wake Up Time!**

"Oh gosh Sakura that was so fun…" Mrs. Hikari (Sora's mom) giggled as she walked up the driveway of her house followed by Mrs. Sakura Hana (Kairi's mother) and Mr. Hikari (Sora's father). Mrs. Hikari fumbled with her keys as she opened the door. Mrs. Hana giggled as well as they remembered the fun night they all had together since it was the typical Friday night dinner with both Sora's parents and Kairi's parents.

"My husband was too tired to call Kairi and we both just assumed she was with Sora so he walked home and I drove here to pick her up," Mrs. Hana explained.

"Sora and Kairi are always hanging out. They're inseparable. There's a high chance she's at our place," Mr. Hikari reassured. "Sora and Kairi have been best friends for how long?"

"Hmm…" Mrs. Hana tried to think, "It should be around 16 years or so. I met Akiko (Sora's mom's first name.) at that pregnancy class a little bit under 17 years ago. A couple days after Sora was born Kairi was born. I remember when they first met they played together for hours and when you had to take Sora back home they both cried so loudly. It really was the cutest thing ever. I've never seen anything cuter!"

"The both of them really were adorable back then weren't they?" Mrs. Hikari asked.

"Well of course Sora was adorable! He looked like me!" Mr. Hikari joked as both Mrs. Hikari and Mrs. Hana laughed.

Mrs. Hikari slowly opened the door and noticed it was pitch black, "They must be sleeping or taking a nap. Sora and Kairi wouldn't go out this late without calling me…at least I hope so…" Mrs. Hikari whispered as they slowly turned on the light of the entrance. Mr. Hikari went upstairs and turned on the lights, but no one was there.

"No one's up in Sora's room or in any of the other rooms," Mr. Hikari yelled from upstairs as he examined each room closely.

Mrs. Hana and Mrs. Hikari walked to the living room together slowly as they started to get more nervous and scared that maybe Sora and Kairi might've gotten kidnapped.

"Gosh I wonder where they are…this is really peculiar. Kairi wouldn't just disappear and not call me. And where is Sora? Do you think they might've had a sleepover with Roxas, Namine, and Riku?" Mrs. Hana mumbled a little bit worriedly as she opened up her purse to look for her cell phone and start calling Roxas, Namine, and Riku to check if they were there. Mrs. Hikari walked toward the light switch and turned on the lights, but was quite surprised at what she saw. All the adults immediately started 'aww-ing'.

Sora and Kairi were lying together on the couch asleep. Sora was underneath Kairi holding her waist extremely tightly, while Kairi had her arms around Sora and her head was lying on his chest. They were sleeping soundly with a small smile on each of their faces.

"Aww…how adorable! Now **THIS** is the most cutest thing on earth!" Mrs. Hikari shrieked as she walked up closer to Sora and Kairi and lifted up the sheets to make sure both were fully clothed. _'Gosh these kids are so innocent and adorable. Reminds my husband and me of I when we were younger,' _Mrs. Hikari thought as she started to clean off some of the garbage that Sora and Kairi left when they had their sleepover.

"What could they have they been possibly doing?" Mrs. Hana asked suspiciously as she raisd her eyebrow.

Mr. Hikari walked in soon after, "WHOA!" He exclaimed loudly, but that still didn't even wake up the sleeping soundly children, "THAT'S MY BOY!" Mr. Hikari joked.

"Honey!" Mrs. Hikari lectured in a stern tone.

"What? What did I do?" Mr. Hikari asked innocently as Mrs. Hikari grumbled.

"I don't want to wake up Kairi, but she has to get home," Mrs. Hana mumbled sadly almost regretting to split the 2 apart.

"Here I'll pick her up and put her in your car. I'll try not to wake her up," He nodded at Mrs. Hikari and beckoned for her to help him carry Kairi. "Come on sweetheart," Mr. Hikari suggested.

Mr. Hikari attempted to grab Kairi, but Sora held her tight and it seemed the harder Mr. Hikari pulled Kairi away the tighter he'd grab. Sometimes he'd moan in his sleep in annoyance and groan in frustration. This caused Mr. Hikari to laugh a bit.

"That's my son. When he wants something he'll never let go of it," Mr. Hikari joked as Mrs. Hikari and Mrs. Hana laughed.

"Gosh they're so cute!" Mrs. Hikari giggled, "I guess we have to wake up Sora so he can let go."

"Sora…" Mr. Hikari tried to wake up Sora as he shook Sora gently.

"Hmm…what?" Sora asked. He tried to sit up, but he noticed that his chest had something a bit heavier on it. He looked down to see Kairi right there. He smiled a bit, but then realized his parents were watching him and blushed from embarrassment.

"Mrs. Hana has to bring Kairi home and Daddy wants to carry her back into the car so that Mrs. Hana can drive back home," Mrs. Hikari explained slowly. Sora drowsily nodded and picked up Kairi.

"That's okay…I got it." Sora mumbled as he walked with Kairi in his arm. It was raining a bit and he tried to lean forward to protect Kairi from the rain. He remembered the days when he and Kairi would play in the rain all the time. They would skip together in the puddles and splash each other. They'd have contests all the time and after the rain they'd always try to find the end of the rainbow.

_Flashback _

"Sora! Sora! I beat ya in the puddle contest!" A 6-year-old Kairi pointed out triumphantly as she splashed so hard that the splash was so high it made her own hair wet and SORA's hair wet.

"Okay! Okay! Gees Kairi you don't got to rub it in," A 6-year-old Sora frowned while grumbling and kicking the puddles around annoyed. "It's not my fault that my knees hurt." Sora pouted another time and tried splashing again.

The rain suddenly stopped and a bright beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky. Kairi and Sora stared at it for a minute or two, amazed by its beauty.

"Gosh Sora isn't it pretty?" Kairi asked as she stared at the beautiful rainbow in awe.

"Yeah…when I grow up I'm going to slide off a rainbow!" Sora explained smartly as if it was a normal thing to do when people grow up.

"Really? Could I slide off the rainbow with you?" Kairi asked, while she tried to list the color of the rainbows in her head. 'Red, yellow, blue, green…no no. Hmm…red, orange, blue, green…no that's not it. Hmph,' Kairi thought. _Unfortunately she couldn't multitask well at the age of 6 so she decided to just continue her conversation with Sora. _

"Sora! Sora! Let's look for that giganormous pots of gold at the end of the rainbow that those leeopardcony thingys (she means leprechauns) leave behind for us to find and keep!" Kairi suggested.

"Yippee! We'd be rich! I could buy anything I wanted in this whole entire WORLD! Or…or…UNIVERSE!" Sora squealed as he started doing a strange dance in the air while splashing Kairi's already soaked clothing.

Kairi started to think deeply of what they should do with their money when they found the humongous pot of gold. 'I know one thing I want…to be with Sora forever.'

"Yeah! And when we find the money I'll get half and you'll get half. And **someday** we'll buy a house together and live together with millions of babies that the stork will give us! And also a pony!" Kairi said as she started ranting off in what kind of pony she preferred.

"Yeah! Someday…someday…"

End Flashback

He opened the door of the passenger seat and gently placed her down. He kissed her on the forehead and when he pulled away his lips tingled for more, but he dismissed it as just 'hormones' when they were uncontrollable when he woke up. He slowly released his arms from her and was about to buckle her up in the seatbelt…

"Sora…why are you letting go?" Kairi whispered half asleep, "Don't let go."

"Kai…you gotta get home now. Your parents are going to worry," Sora whispered to her reassuringly as he stroked her hair.

"Don't let go of me…" Kairi begged, her voice barely above a whisper. She was still half asleep and her eyes were closed. It was as if an unconscious part  
of her that had a mind of its own started speaking, "Stay with me."

"I'm always with you…" Sora whispered reassuringly, "In there…" Sora pointed at her heart, and she smiled as she felt his finger touch her heart.

"Yeah, you are, but I like it better when you're right next to me…" Kairi murmured as she touched her heart to make sure he was still in there…inside of her  
heart.

"Kai you're tired…" Sora muttered caringly as he tucked a couple loose, wet, strands of her hair behind her ear, while he caressed her cheek.

"You're always with me…always in there…" Kairi whispered as she smiled again. She said it over and over again to make sure it was real, almost as if, if she stopped saying it she'd forget it all together and that she **needed** to remember he was there.

"Yeah…" Sora whispered, "I'd never leave you. Never."

"Bye Sora! Thank you for all the help," Mrs. Hana thanked, ruining the moment. She tried to pat his head, but couldn't reach since Sora had grown taller. "Oh boy, are you growing. I used to always pat your big hair when you did something good, but now I can't even reach there!"

Sora smiled, "Well I am a growing boy," He joked. Mrs. Hana hopped into the car and made sure Kairi was seat belted. As soon as she finished checking everything off she drove off in the car. Sora stood in the rain as he waited for the car to disappear from view. His dark brown hair started to mat down onto his forehead and the cold rain was starting to make his body shiver, but for some reason he didn't notice. He still felt all warm inside.  
_  
"Yeah…I'm always with you…"_ He smiled subconsciously as he felt his heart tingle with joy. "..._Always in your heart." _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Sorry this chapter is so short…and sorry for the really long time to update…I was just so busy with studying for finals, graduation, graduation parties, preparing for high school, hanging out with my friends as mush as possible, and resting that I didn't update…plus I felt like my story wasn't that great anyway so why bother? But I really do love writing and even if it sucks I'm still going to write!

x3,  
LJ


	4. Chapter 4: Deja Vu

Disclaimer: I already told you I don't own kingdom hearts!

Growing  
**Chapter 4: Deja Vu**

"Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click." Sora was typing at an amazing speed again. He was nearly complete with his 'masterpiece' and was actually starting to enjoy writing. Sora had been so immersed in his story that he didn't notice the pounding knocks on the door…

"KNOCK! KNOCK!"

"Who the heck would knock this early in the morning?" Sora asked to himself as he rushed downstairs to get the door. Sora's parents weren't at home on the weekends in the mornings and usually went out. Sora was usually asleep in the mornings anyway.

Sora ran downstairs and looked out the small hidden window that was next to the door. There he saw tapping impatiently was…

**Riku**.

"What the…?" Sora asked as he opened the door.

"Oh!" Riku exclaimed in surprise, "I didn't expect you up this early…usually I have to get a horn at 12 o'clock to wake you up."

"So then why'd you come?" Sora asked annoyed. He really had to get back to his story.

"Gees Mr. Grumpy. I just wanted to check if you wanted to go to the skateboarding park. Remember what I said yesterday? With Roxas and Namine?" Riku asked. Riku started tapping his foot impatiently outside.

"What?" Sora questioned and was ticked at the obvious loud tapping.

"Can I come in or am I just going to stand here all day?" Riku replied.

"Yeah…uhh…sure…" Sora answered as he opened the door all the way to let Riku inside of the house. Riku obliged with a smirk on his face and walked inside the house and allowed himself to get comfortable on the couch.

"So why can't you come today?" Riku asked.

"Oh yeah…that…well I have to right my story and I…well…" Sora trailed off.

"YOU'VE got to be kidding me! Like you'd actually DO THAT. Sora…the last time you cared about failing English was when you cared about what color shirt matches your book bag! Don't tell me you're starting to care about your grades! OH MAN! DID KAIRI BRAINWASH YOU?" Riku yelled almost in terror that his partner in crime was turning into a robotic gentleman.

"NO! NO! STUPID! Stop talking! IT COUNTS FOR 50 OF MY FINAL AVERAGE…OF COURSE I CARE!" Sora retorted back annoyed at Riku's stupidity.

"Ohh…can I read it?" Riku asked.

"Hell no!" Sora shouted.

"Why? Is it **PERSONAL**?" Riku questioned with laughter almost erupting out of his lips, "Are you turning into a girl or something? Since when were **you** personal? Gosh this has got to be the strangest thing on EARTH. What? Your love for Kairi suddenly makes you a good boy now?"

"YOU USED TO HAVE A HUGE CRUSH ON KAIRI!" Sora pointed out with his fingers getting tense. He clenched and unclenched his fist in anger.

"So? What's your point? You said **used** to."

"And I know NOW you kind of have a crush on NAMINE! GOD! YOU LIKE ALMOST EVERY GIRL IN THIS ENTIRE SCHOOL ANYWAY. Man…I REMEMBER the times when we'd compete for Kairi's attention when we were little and I knew you were the stronger one and all that junk, but I still tried my hardest to impress her and then you toss her like yesterday's NEWS," Sora retorted back, but regretted it immediately.

"She's still my friend…whatever Sora. I just wanted to know if you could come or not. You can work on your stupid sissy story. Right now I'm just annoyed at your grumpy attitude," Riku muttered coldly.

"Fine, fine. Gees I'll be there in 10 minutes. Let me just—" Sora cut himself off before he could finish his statement. He was going to say that he would have to print out his story so he could write it, but that would just prove Riku's point. "Umm…just get a head start."

"Not like I want to walk with you anyway…" Riku replied coolly as he walked out of the house and disappeared from view.

Sora ran back up to his room and printed the story. He folded it in 4 so it would fit in his overly large pockets. He also stuffed in a pen in case he had an inspiration to write something.

By the time he got to the park he noticed Riku trying to help Namine on the skateboard with Roxas huffing in the background annoyed.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked Roxas who looked extremely pissed off.

"I was supposed to teach Namine how to skateboard, but Mr. Knight in Shining Armor took full control of everything and ditched me out," Roxas replied hotly.

"Why did you even let Namine borrow your skateboard? I thought you didn't let people touch it," Sora pointed out.

Roxas just blushed in response and turned the other direction as if he didn't even acknowledge the question.

"AHHH!" Namine screamed as Riku caught her gracefully. Namine blushed lightly, but tried to act normal.

"You okay?" Riku asked kindly.

"I could've stopped myself from falling…" Namine mumbled shyly so Riku couldn't her. She didn't want to seem like some fragile girl who wouldn't take care of herself, but since Namine was so shy people just assumed she was fragile. For some reason Namine was shy to everyone else except Roxas and Kairi.

"Roxas! Roxas! I want you to teach me!" Namine shouted as she ran toward Roxas. She grabbed his hand firmly and dragged him to help her skateboard.

Roxas blushed again.

"Riku's great and all, but I know you're a really good skater so help me! I already know some of the basics, but I really want you to teach me! Okay…now hold on to me while I skateboard and don't let go!" Namine demanded as she put Roxas's hand on her waist tightly and started skateboarding extremely slowly so Roxas could walk on the ground while holding her. While she was skateboarding she fell and Roxas caught her just in time with his fast reflexes. She blushed at least 5 shades of red on her face and was almost speechless.

"Umm…you…alright?" Roxas asked, "Sorry for umm…just catching you…" Roxas mumbled trying to apologize. He knew Namine didn't like it when guys just touched her.

"Ohh…yeah…I'm fine…thanks for umm…well…helping me…" She replied back a bit nervously. Roxas just flashed a grin at her and helped her back on the skateboard.

Riku sighed heavily. What did Roxas have that he didn't have? Riku was one of the most sought after guy in the whole entire school and Namine didn't even throw him a glance, yet with Roxas she seems much more comfortable. _'Maybe the only reason why I liked Namine was because she kind of looked like Kairi and I already knew who Kairi loved so I gave up on her and decided to go for her clone…to bad she already has her own boy._' Riku thought.

From afar Sora watched the scene between Roxas and Namine. _'So they like each other. I should've seen it coming. It's actually kind of…well…it seems right._' Sora thought. "Oh gees! Don't tell me I'm going all sappy!" Sora muttered to himself out loud, but something in his mind triggered like a light bulb that just turned on in his head. "INSPIRATION 2!" Sora exclaimed as he grabbed his pen and story to begin writing.

After just handwriting 2 full pages while examining Roxas and Namine's behavior Sora decided to take a break and grab a snack at the vending machine. Unfortunately it was a bit far from the skate park and in the main park, but he was hungry so he didn't mind walking that far. Sora left his pen and paper on the bench.

"Hey Sora where are you going?" Namine whispered curiously. Even though Sora was her friend she was still a little bit shy toward him.

"Just getting a snack…" Sora answered back. "So how is the skateboarding lesson?"

"It's just perfect! I love hanging out with Roxas and he's so good at skateboarding! It's awesome!" Namine exclaimed happily as she recalled the lesson. She almost completely forgot about her shyness, but blushed as soon as she realized she was ranting about Roxas again.

"Good to hear. Tell Roxas I'll be back later…" Sora replied smiling as he walked to the snack bar. _'Wonder where Riku went…_' Sora thought curiously, but ignored the thought. "I wonder where Kairi is and how she's doing." Sora said out loud and started thinking of possible places Kairi might be and if she'd be surprise if he just visited her out of the blue. '_Oh Jesus! I'm talking to myself. I seriously think I'm going crazy!'_ Sora thought as he silenced himself from anymore strange conversations with himself.

Sora was at the snack bar and was contemplating what to buy. He had to choose between a hot dog or chicken fingers with French fries. He decided on the hot dog since it would be easier to eat. He got 2 hot dogs and walked back slowly.

As he neared the skate park he noticed someone sitting on **his** bench…and not only that…

"WHAT THE…?" Sora yelled as he noticed the guy was…

Reading **his** personal story…

And not only that…

It was his best friend Riku.

"RIKU! YOU SPAZ! STOP READING MY STORY! GET OFF MY GODDAMNED STORY OR I'LL BEAT THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF YOU!" Sora screamed as he ran to Riku, but jammed the last bit of his first hot dog in his mouth while trying to hold the second one.

Riku, who looked like a deer in headlights, dropped the story.

"Oh hey Sora…" Riku replied coolly like nothing ever happened and an evil grin formed over his face. "Nice story by the way," He mumbled sarcastically.

"Shut up! What is up with you? You think you can just read that without asking? You're lucky that I don't punch you right where it hurts!" Sora exclaimed. He was afraid Riku might think he was a sissy again.

"This is an interesting story. Two best friends that have known each other forever. The guy starts developing feelings for the girl and he's not sure if the girl likes him back, but another guy is starting to like the girl. So it's a love triangle and the other guy is the most popular guy in school, while the best friend gets jealous and he realizes he's been in love with her. Let me ask you…how is it going to end?"

"Umm…well if I want a sad ending the girl will start to like the popular guy and leave the best friend," Sora replied, but paused, "And well…if I want a happy ending then I'll have her like the best friend."

"Uh huh…this sounds familiar…" Riku muttered while flipping through the pages, "Doesn't it Sora?"

"GIVE THAT BACK!" Sora yelled as he grabbed the paper out of Riku's hand without tearing a single sheet.

Riku ignored him still, "You'd be a complete fool if you made her and the popular guy fall in love because we **all** know the 2 best friends love each other."

"What?" Sora asked completely clueless. "You didn't even read my story that detailed."

"I don't need to be a rocket scientist to know what this sounds like," Riku explained.

"What?" Sora repeated in shock. He still had no idea what in the hell Riku was talking about. He didn't even seem to be making any sense. He was afraid Riku might tease him about his 'feminine' side.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Riku laughed as he threw his head back. "The 2 best friends sound like…"

"Sound like who?" Sora asked completely clueless.

"**You. And. Kairi.**" Riku said without any tone and walked away.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
Chapter 4 is finally done! Sorry for the long wait! This wasn't exactly my best chapter…I'm sorry (. I know I'm not the best writer, but I still love writing with a passion. If I have any grammatical or spelling errors please tell! I'm having a bit of writers block, but I do have a question. How long should I make my story? I was originally going to make it 2 chapters, but that didn't work…so what do you think? I'm definitely not going to make it 20 chapters so…? The fifth chapter should be up soon! Review if you like it?

x3,  
LJ


	5. Chapter 5: Admittance

Disclaimer: Yeah yeah…you know the drill I don't own kingdom hearts.

Before I start I really want to thank my reviewers who encouraged me to write on and really did boost my confidence a bit.

Growing  
**Chapter 5: Admittance**

_'No way…I did not write an autobiographical story about Kai and I…well…I mean people always say you write best on what you know, but…GAH! No…I wouldn't. And now that I have this thought in my head that I could have POSSIBLY wrote this about Kai, Riku, and I, I don't know how to end it! GOSH WHY DOES RIKU HAVE TO MAKE EVERYTHING MORE CONFUSING?_' Sora thought in his head as he walked home from the park that day. He had completely ignored Roxas and Namine as they called him to ask if he wanted to hang out at Kairi's house since he was too busy in his train of thought. He just kept thinking and thinking.

_'Then again it would make sense why most of my inspiration comes from Kai, except for today with that scene with Roxas and Namine, but even that scene reminds me of what Kai and I always do! Oh man this is crazy…I need to sort my thoughts out, but I want more inspiration…_' Sora had walked subconsciously and obliviously and let his feet just carry him to wherever they wanted him to go. It didn't seem like anything was going to stop him now.

"God why is life so…confusing?" Sora asked himself out loud as he kept wandering around, but stopped dead in his tracks as he realized he was in front of the one home he feared to come to, but it was too late someone had seen him.

He subconsciously led himself to Kairi's house! 

Well that wasn't much of a shock considering that every time he has a problem he goes to Kairi's house anyway, but the fact that this was ABOUT Kairi didn't seem to help at all.

"Sora!" Kairi called as she opened the door. Roxas and Namine were inside waving to him.

"Oh…hey Kai," Sora greeted back as he waved his hand nervously. '_Why am I acting nervous? This is Kai for god's sakes. Just act like you normally would!' _Sora lectured in his head as he started cooling down.

"You want to come in? I'm really bored right now," Kairi suggested.

"Nah I think I'll just stand here all day," Sora replied sarcastically as he walked inside the door. Roxas shook Sora's hand as usual and he greeted Namine of course as well.

"Goodness Sora you're such a loser why do I bother talking to you?" Kairi asked harshly.

Namine let out a small gasp in shock as she realized what Kairi said.

Sora just rolled his eyes. He knew Kairi too well and obviously knew she was kidding.

"I'm kidding. You know I know that you're just an awesome guy," Kairi joked winking at Sora.

"I know…" Sora replied without showing any signs of being hurt whatsoever.

Namine just stared at the 2 curiously. They were so close that they could practically read their minds. She stared at Roxas and he just shrugged his shoulders as if saying, 'it's-probably-a-best-friend-thing-they-have.'

"Have any of you guys seen Riku?" Sora asked loudly as he walked over to Kairi's fridge like he usually did to grab a can of soda for himself.

"Last time I saw Prince Charming he walked away from the park in the direction of his own house," Roxas explained yelling back to Sora since he was in the kitchen.

"Roxas!" Namine lectured.

"What? The kid is such a sweet talker! Don't tell me you don't notice!" Roxas replied indignantly. 

"Yeah Riku can be like that. Even today he still hits on me at school. It's just the way he is. He's had at least 10 girlfriends, but none of them lasts more than a week. It's just typical Riku," Kairi explained as she walked to the kitchen as well to get a drink.

"I guess Riku is a sweet talker. He isn't that bad though. I do get really annoyed when he does flirt with me though," Namine mumbled.

"And if he does you tell me and I'll make sure he stops," Roxas cut in as he started cracking his knuckles.

"Roxas that's sweet of you, but I can take care of myself. Next time he does something like that I'll defend myself and tell him to stop flirting with me like that because I'm not interested," Namine explained kindly as she lifted her hand and grabbed Roxas's hand gently so he'd stop cracking his knuckles. She brought his hands close to her face so she could caress his fingers and whispered, "Cracking knuckles is bad for your fingers…"

Roxas could've sworn his heartbeat doubled its original rate at that particular moment.

"W—well I'll stop th—then, but Namine…I'm your best friend. I've known you for so long. You know if you ever need help I'm here for you right?" Roxas asked.

"You guys thirsty?" Sora yelled from the kitchen as Namine jumped a bit and in the process dropped Roxas's hand.

Roxas pouted at Sora's bad timing skills.

"Nah I'm fine!" Roxas shouted, "Uh...GUYS! I'm going to head back home. Maybe we can hang out tonight or something. Like dinner and a movie?"

"That would be such a great idea! There's this new movie coming out and I've been so excited to see it!" Namine exclaimed happily as she clapped her hands together at the excellent idea.

"Yeah that'd be a great idea," Kairi replied as she walked back into the room, "See you later Roxas! Bye!"

"Actually I think I have to go too. My mom won't let me go out for the whole day. I still have a couple chores to do it at home," Namine explained.

"Okay then. Talk to ya later Namine! Bye!" Kairi waved to both Roxas and Namine as they walked out of the door.

"What? They're gone already?" Sora asked as he came in with an extremely tall sandwich in his hands and 2 cans of pepsi.

"Sora how do you carry all these things?" Kairi decided to help Sora carry some of the food to the table where he could eat.

"I'm hungry Kai…and your house has such good food plus I didn't even eat lunch yet! I only ate a snack!" Sora explained as he started to dig into his humongous sandwich.

As Sora started eating a comfortable silence surrounded them. Kairi just analyzed Sora while he was eating and she thought it was cute how he just sad there eating like a monster.

'_Cute? Kairi have you gone crazy? When was the last time you thought someone ATE cute?'_ Kairi asked herself, but immediately dismissed the thought. '_This is Sora we're talking about…right?'_ Kairi thought.

Sora just kept munching on his food except the fact that he was still thinking about what Riku said in the back of his mind, but he tried to ignore that. Riku was just trying to throw him off…that's all.

"Soo…Sora…how's the story coming along? Can I read it?" Kairi asked.

Sora jumped up and coughed loudly. He almost choked over his sandwich. He definitely did not see that coming.

"Oh…uh…fine," Sora replied.

"So can I READ it?" Kairi asked again persistently.

"Uhh…maybe…not until I'm done. I don't think you'd like it anyway." Sora tried to think up an excuse fast, but he knew even if his story did suck Kairi would like it anyway.

"Oh Sora…I'd still like your story anyway. It's not a big deal just let me read it!" Kairi was leaning in closer to Sora's face and her lips were inches apart from him and he began to notice that her lips were a nice tasty shade of pink that he'd like to taste…

_'It sounds like you and Kairi.'_ The voice of Riku kept echoing inside of Sora's mind. He jumped back and fell off his chair.

"I…uhh…" Sora started stuttering again as this nervous feeling just came around him. Usually when he was with Kairi they would make jokes and tease each other, but they knew each other too well. Sometimes they'd even finish each other's sentences, so why was he suddenly nervous?

"Sora! Are you okay?" Kairi urged as she helped him up.

"I'm…I'm okay…" Sora mumbled as he felt Kairi's hands wrapping around his waist to hoist him up. They felt so comfortable there. Yet 2 days ago it felt normal…it felt **normal**…now it just felt…**amazingly perfect.**

"Are you sure?" Kairi asked nervously.

"I uhh…I should go home now…" Sora stuttered once again. He was loosing it. **He was going crazy…either that… or maybe…just maybe…**

He was in love.

"Oh…alright. Remember though…dinner and a movie tonight with Roxas and Namine kay?" Kairi reminded.

"Yeah…tonight…dinner and movie. Okay bye," Sora echoed as he headed to the door, but not before tripping over himself one last time. "I'M OKAY!" He shouted as he walked out the door leaving a very confused Kairi just observing his strange behavior.

_'Me? Kairi? I wouldn't…I mean I shouldn't…she wouldn't like me anyway. I'm only her BEST FRIEND. It would screw everything up…plus so many other guys I know like her…what chance do I stand? Not that I would WANT a chance because I don't like Kairi right?'_

There was no answer in his head. It was silent.

_'Right?'_ He asked himself again in his head.

It was once again silent. There was no response like, 'Right Sora!' or 'Of course!' Nope it was just silence. **Just plain silence.  
**  
_'Right…?'_

He sighed.

_'Wrong._' He knew the answer all along, but was too busy in denial to really think it over.

"Maybe I AM going crazy…" He mumbled to himself.

_'Crazy in love._' A voice in the back of his head answered for him.

_'What who are you?' _Sora asked in his mind.

_'Your conscience that's who I am,'_ the voice answered back logically almost as if all consciences talk to you.

_'What? You talk? You choose all times to talk NOW!'_ Sora screeched in his head as he kept walking subconsciously.

'_Watch out for that CAR!_' his conscience yelled as he came to a sudden halt. A car beeped extremely loudly and swerved past him. The guy gave him a dirty look and drove away.

'_Whoa what a close one._' Sora walked out of the road and toward the sidewalk.

_'Technically I saved your life. So you should listen to me when I say that you are crazy in love with Kairi_,' Sora' s conscience yakked.

_'How would you know?'_ Sora replied.

_'It's SO obvious. Think about it. You guys have known each other so long and you guys already act like you're married. Not just that, but have you ever noticed Kairi's…well…umm…features?' _Sora's conscience questioned.

_'Umm…well…no…I mean…" _Sora stuttered. He couldn't deny it. Lately that's all he ever noticed, '_YES. Like her tasty lips or her nice silky hair…and her beautiful figure…'_ Sora pictured Kairi in his head.

'_Yeah see…you DO like her._' Sora's conscience pointed out.

'_Shut up! I should kill you!'_ Sora retorted.

'_What are you going to do? Kill yourself? I don't think so!'_ Sora's conscience teased as it started laughing.

'_Why I ought to!—'_

"Sora!" Mrs. Hikari called out.

Sora just realized he'd been standing in front of his house, for god knows how long, just standing there talking to himself. He was officially crazy…

Crazy in love?

"Sorry mom!" Sora yelled as he started running toward the front door so he could enter his house.

"What's wrong with you? You were standing there just staring. You looked crazy!" Mrs. Hikari lectured.

"Oh…" Sora trailed off, "I'm going to take a nap okay mom?" Sora explained.

"You look a bit flushed are you okay?" Mrs. Hikari asked.

"Fine, just tired." Sora dashed toward his room to ignore any more questions from his mother. He didn't want to explain to her that he was arguing in his head over the fact that he might secretly love his best friend and want to taste her luscious lips…

Yes, he rather take a nap than hear another 'talk' from his mother.__

Sora walked to his room and immediately collapsed on the bed from exhaustion. He just needed a break from all of this. A nap wouldn't hurt?

But he still needed to sort out his feelings a little bit.

_'Okay so I'm in love with my best friend and would give my soul to save her…'_

Sora thought as he started dozing off. His thoughts were getting a bit more foggy and he was feeling more light headed as the effects of sleep were overtaking him.

_'And I don't think I want this feeling to stop._'

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Yay! I hope you liked this chapter. Sorry the last chapter was mainly RoxasXNamineXRiku, but I'm trying to add more SoraXKairi moments too. I was wondering if I should make this a RoxasXNamine story as well? I'm a huge fan of that too, but I hear NamineXRiku is popular? Oh well. Please tell me what you think. I still need to know how many chapters I should write. Oh yeah and I want to thank my reviewers a whole bunch who motivated me. If you like my story please review!

Next chapter should be up tomorrow or the day after?


	6. Chapter 6: Dinner and Plate of Jealous

Disclaimer: I do not own kingdom hearts and if I did please smack me so I'd wake up from my dream.

Again, a big thanks to those who review!

Growing  
**Chapter 6: Dinner and a Plate of Jealous**

_"Sora…" Kairi whispered as her face drew closer and closer to his. He could almost feel her breath on his neck and it sounded uneven…almost nervous._

"Ye—yeah Kai?" Sora asked as his voice started to falter.

"Sora…I've wanted to say this for so long…I…I love you," Kairi whispered as she pushed him against the wall and kissed him ferociously. Her tongue was sliding on his lips as if it was pleading to get in and Sora of course being a boy in love immediately opened up…

"Kai…I…love…you" Sora whispered, but it came out as more of a moan since he was still in the middle of the kiss.

"Sora I want you to kno—"

"RING! RING!"

"Mmm…ARGH…" Sora moaned as he rolled in his bed hoping the telephone would just shut off and he could go back to his amazing dream.

"SORA! TELEPHONE'S FOR YOU!" Mrs. Hikari screamed.

Sora kept on praying that this was just some a nightmare or he was 'imagining' the phone ringing and 'imagining' his mother calling his name.

"SORA! DID YOU HEAR ME? THE TELEPHONE IS FOR **YOU**."

"GODDAMN IT!" Sora shouted as he abruptly stood up, reached the phone, and grabbed it roughly, "HELLO! WHAT IS IT!"

"Gees Sora! Cranky much?" The sweet voice feigned offense.

Sora froze for a second, "Oh man…sorry Kai I was just having this dream and all…"

"Naughty, naughty Sora…I wonder what THAT was about since you sounded like you REALLY wanted to go back to it," Kairi teased.

"Trust me…you do NOT want to know," Sora replied back as he felt a blush materialize on his cheeks.

"So are we still on for the movies?" Kairi asked cutely.

For a second Sora thought she was asking him out…

Unfortunately he wasn't THAT lucky.

"What?" Sora asked, "OH! OH YEAH! The whole dinner and the movie thing with Roxas and Namine! Yeah…of course…what time and where are we meeting?" Sora asked.

"We're meeting at the Local Café 143 in about half an hour or 45 minutes. We might watch a chick flick so bring on the tissues! Just make sure you arrive on time please?" Kairi asked. Knowing Sora the way she did she knew he'd show up late because he 'lost track of time.'

"Yeah yeah I'll try, but I might—"

"Loose track of time…sure, sure, just make sure you come okay?" Kairi pleaded as she finished her sentence. "It…well…it won't b—be as much fun without you," Kairi stuttered.

"Don't worry I'll come. I won't leave a lady hanging like that," Sora affirmed triumphantly.

"Okay," Kairi said, "Catch ya later!"

"See ya!" Sora hung up the phone and slowly got ready. He attempted to comb his hair, but it ended up becoming messier so he just gave up. He threw on his shoes and grabbed some money.

"Sora where are you heading to?" Mr. Hikari asked.

"Just heading out to eat some food with Kai, Roxas, and Namine. Is that cool?" Sora asked.

"Sure it's 'cool'," Mr. Hikari replied as Sora just laughed at him.

"Thanks Dad. I'm going to leave in like half an hour okay?"

"All right then. You have fun, but not TOO much fun," Mr. Hikari commanded.

"Gees Dad I'm not going to a rave or anything," Sora muttered as he headed toward the living room to watch some TV.

He turned on the TV, but the first thing he saw were…

Commercials…

Commercials…

And more commercials…

"Are you UNSATISFIED with your love life?"

"Having bedroom problems?"

"A bit caught up in a love triangle?"

Sora subconsciously pouted, "What the--? What? Does the world like to rub it in, in the fact that I have love problems! JESUS!" Sora screamed to himself.

"What sweetheart? You have love problems?" Mrs. Hikari poked her head through the door with some fresh laundry in her hands.

"Uhh…I…what are you doing here Mom?" Sora asked nervously as he laughed.

"Well let's see…I LIVE here?" Mrs. Hikari joked.

"Yeah…RIGHT…" Sora trailed off hoping that his mom would just dismiss the subject or maybe she'd think that she had heard things and was going crazy?

Nope…he was her mother for a reason.

"So about that love problem you have…what is it?" Mrs. Hikari pestered.

"NOTHING MOM!" Sora denied as he groaned. He slouched back in his chair praying that maybe god might just take a bolt of lightning and strike him right there. Then he would go to the hospital and she would completely forget the whole 'love problem' conversation.

"Oh dear! Does it have to do with Kairi? Oh you two look so cute together and you guys have known each other for so long! It would be almost more adorable if you kids started going out! Oh my little boy is growing up! If you guys got married then Sakura and I would be sisters and law…you know I've always wanted grandchildren. You and Kairi would make extremely cute grandchildr—"

"MOM!" Sora yelled, "Just…stop talking!"

"SO IT DOES!" Mrs. Hikari squealed.

"Mom…" Sora groaned. He slouched even further back in the couch and he rested on one of his hands. Gosh…didn't the woman ever know when to just back out.

"Aww…well I think Kairi likes you too…" Mrs. Hikari attempted to comfort.

"MOTHER!" Sora exclaimed, "I'M LEAVING!"

"Well at least for once you'd actually be early to meet up with Kairi! You know the girl won't go out with you if you keep missing every date because you're too late or you 'lost track of time'." Mrs. Hikari pointed out.

"I'M GONE!" Sora yelled as he opened the door and left the house, but of course, not before leaving one last slam on the door.

Sora had walked at a fast pace considering the fact that he wanted to get out of his house as fast as possible and AWAY from his mother.

After walking for 15 minutes straight he noticed the flashy, neon sign that said, "Local Café 143." He always wondered why they called it that. And what was up with the number 143? Why did they name it that? Why not 231? Or 419? His thoughts began to trail about the numbers really long considering his attention span was pretty short.

"SORA!" A voice called from behind him.

"Oh hey Kai," Sora greeted as he walked over and hugged her. _'Oh gosh she smells so good. I wonder what kind of shampoo she uses. She smells like…the paopu fruit. Oh man! Am I hugging her too long? Am I coming on to her too much?'_ Sora started arguing with himself, but focused back on Kairi when she started talking again.

"You're early!" Kairi commented as she pulled away from him without noticing anything wrong with a small hug.

"Yeah…my mom was being…**annoying,**" Sora muttered as he recalled the incident and shuddered on reflex.

"Haha…must've been that bad huh?" Kairi giggled. She grabbed Sora's hand and brought him inside the café. They sat on a table with 4 chairs for Roxas and Namine of course. Sora sat across from Kairi and they started talking.

"What time are Roxas and Namine coming?" Sora asked casually.

"They should be here in 10 minutes since we were early," Kairi informed as she checked her watch and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

_'Gosh she looks so beautiful…_' Sora thought as he started daydreaming again, but Kairi looked up and he tried to turn his gaze away toward the Local Café 143's sign.

"I wonder why they call this café Local Café 143," Sora blurted out in curiosity as he stared at the annoying, flashy, neon sign once again.

"Because 143 stands for love. Didn't you know that?" Kairi explained. (A/N: In my school, like as a code…143 means love. It's so easy to write when you're text messaging during class. lol. 012 means forever. Okay back to the story I'm rambling.)

"It does? Whoa that's weird! Since when did numbers stand for words?" Sora asked as he started playing with the packets of sugar that each café left on the table for the customer.

"Sweet 'n Low." Kairi pointed out as she grabbed a packet from Sora and remembered the days when they were younger.

"We used to always play with these packs of sugar and then tear them open when we were little, remember? And then we'd eat the sugar. We were pretty hyper kids," Sora laughed as he started fiddling with a pack of sugar between his fingers.

Suddenly a waitress, who looked around 16 or 17 came up to them, "Would you like anything to drink?" the waitress asked. She seemed to be staring at Sora a lot, but Sora being Sora didn't even notice.

"Could I have some hot chocolate?" Kairi asked, and the waitress snapped back to reality.

"Oh…yes a hot chocolate…" the waitress mumbled as she scribbled it down. She then focused her attention at Sora again and gave him a flirtatious smile.

"I'd just like a lemonade," Sora replied, still not noticing the waitress's smiles, but Kairi did and she looked ready to attack her.

"Oh what are your names?" the waitress asked, but mainly the question was directed to Sora.

"I'm KAIRIand that's Sora," Kairi enunciated trying to get the waitress to stop staring at Sora.

"Nice to meet you Sora, I'm Mayumi," Mayumi smiled at Sora once again and every second it stayed plastered to her face Kairi got even more and more mad.

"Uhh…Yeah…nice to meet you?" Sora replied back confused as to why a waitress would introduce herself to him. Usually they just ask for what food you'd lke to order and then go.

"Oh…you guys look like an…**interesting** couple," the waitress 'complimented.'

"Oh we're not going out," Sora denied. '_Although I wish we were.'_

"Oh that's good!" She smiled and walked to the next table with a huge smirk on her face.

_'I'd like to wipe that smirk off her face!'_ Kairi thought evilly_. 'But what could I do? It's not like I could put a huge sign over his head with arrows that said, 'SORA'S MINE.' And I can't just kiss him…he would get so freaked out…although his lips look really really gorgeous…whoa whoa. Get a hold of yourself Kairi.'_

"Gees Kairi? Hot chocolate? It's always hot in Destiny Island," Sora spoke.

"I always get it…and you ALWAYS say that…" Kairi informed.

"You always say it 'tastes good' and it's just a 'tradition,' but you should seriously get something new once in a while. What if it was 200 degrees outside? Then what are you going to do? Drink some more HOT chocolate?" Sora teased.

"Be quiet Sora." Kairi leaned forward and pushed Sora teasingly.

"What? I'm just saying," Sora retorted innocently as he grabbed Kairi's arm to try to pull it off.

"Here are your DRINKS," Mayumi interrupted.

Kairi's arm was on Sora's chest and Sora's hand was on Kairi's arm, which he was supposed to pull off, but ended up holding it a little bit too long. Mayumi who noticed this and of course secretly liked Sora got extremely jealous had 'accidentally' spilled some of the hot chocolate. Luckily Kairi pulled her chair out of the way so it landed on her shoes.

Kairi sent Mayumi a dirty look as she realized her sandals were stained with hot chocolate.

"OUCH!" Kairi exclaimed as her feet burned.

"Oh…I'm so sorry," Mayumi apologized with a hint of sarcasm and rolled her eyes. Kairi of course noticed this.

"Gees WATCH IT!" Kairi commanded rudely. Sora just gave the 2 and odd look. He could sense tension between them, but he didn't know why.

Mayumi walked away with her hips swaying in obvious motion.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked noticing Kairi's tension.

"Nothing…" Kairi replied.

"Hey! Sorry we're late!" Namine interrupted as she took her seat next to Kairi and Roxas took his seat next to Sora.

"Namine here wanted to stop by this thrift shop and buy this, AND I QUOTE, 'oh so adorable trinket'." Roxas joked.

"You can't deny it Roxas it WAS adorable!" Namine argued back jokingly as she pointed a finger to his face, while leaning closer.

"Oh yes it was totally FAB Namine!" Roxas teased back as he feigned a gay accent.

The four of them laughed casually, ate dinner together, and prepared the money for the meal, without another interruption from the Mayumi… for the moment that is.

"Oh I have to go to the bathroom!" Namine announced, "I'll be right back."

"I'm going to just buy a soda for the movie okay?" Roxas got up from his seat and walked to the counter to buy a soda.

"Let's take out the tip," Kairi suggested. Mayumi still hadn't picked up her check yet.

"What?" Sora questioned completely shocked.

"Well it's not like she was that great ANYWAY," Kairi muttered in annoyance, "And she kept on hitting on you anyway. You know how much that made me want to gag while I was eating?"

"Really? I didn't notice! Wow…I must be that handsome you know? It's not like I was trying to get her attention. See how good looking I am?" Sora joked.

"Uh huh…sure Sora," Kairi responded with a little bit of sarcasm. Out of the corner of her eye Kairi noticed that Mayumi was coming back. Kairi slung her arm around Sora casually and grabbed a napkin.

Sora stared at her strangely, but was still enjoying the moment anyway.

"You got something on your mouth Sora," Kairi explained as she took a napkin and started dabbing around a spot in his mouth. Of course there was nothing on his mouth, but this was just another act to make the Mayumi even more jealous.

"I do?" Sora asked confused.

Mayumi was just standing there impatiently at their table fuming. You could almost see smoke coming out of her ear.

"Oh here's your check—" Sora handed over the check to Mayumi.

Mayumi snatched it out of his hand and stormed off without even glancing back toward them.

"Wow what a mean waitress…maybe we shouldn't have left tip…" Sora regretted.

"See I told you?" Kairi smirked as Roxas and Namine walked back to the table.

"What was that all about?" Namine asked.

"All in a day's work," Kairi replied casually as the four of them left the café and to the movie theater.

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Next chapter will of course be the movie…it'll be more Roxas and Namine kind of chapter! Sorry, but don't worry there will be more Sora and Kairi fluffy moments ahead! Tell me what you thought!

Oh yeah by the way…I was thinking of making my story 10 chapters? And I'm making an epilogue? What do you think?

x3,  
LJ


	7. Chapter 7: Crack in Drinks, Kiss in Rain

Disclaimer: I wouldn't be putting one up if I well…hmm…OWNED KINGDOM HEARTS, which I don't.

Oh yes…I'd like to thank XxmylastbreathxX for giving me a cookie! Which was especially made by her! Thanks for the nice review. You really made my day :)

Growing  
**Chapter 7: Crack in Drinks, Kisses in Rain (Part1)**

"One ticket please…" Kairi requested for the man at the ticket booth.

"That'll be 6.00" the man replied. Kairi dug into her wallet and looked for some money. Her fingers searched her wallet, but all she felt was emptiness.

'_Darn it! I forgot to bring the extra 10 dollars!'_ Kairi thought and sighed heavily.

"Actually forget it…" Kairi muttered as the guy just gave an aggravated grunt and rolled his eyes. Kairi didn't appreciate his rude behavior and was considering punching him, but instead she stuck out her tongue. Luckily he didn't notice. She'd probably get a restraining order at this rate. Kairi turned around from the ticket booth and sighed.

'_I guess they'll have to see this movie without me. Might as well tell them and head back home anyway…'_

"What?" Sora popped out of nowhere and frowned at Kairi.

"What do you mean what?" Kairi snapped back. Kairi unfortunately got moody occasionally and this just happened to be that perfect occasion. Especially with the fat, rude, guy in the ticket booth, the annoying waitress, and her stupidity to leave her money back at home. She was unfortunately in a crummy mood.

"How come you can't see the movie?" Sora asked as he pouted. He held a cup of coke in one hand and a small bag of popcorn in the other. "We were supposed to have our 'who-catches-more-pop-corn-in-their-mouths' contest while Roxas and Namine watch their sappy chick flick movie!"

"I know that Sora…" Kairi replied as she sighed, "I just…well I ran out of money…I'm so stupid! My mom left an extra 10 bucks for me and I left it on the counter. You guys just go ahead without me. I'm going to head home okay?"

"By yourself?" Sora asked quizzically. His eyebrows shot up and he gave her this look that almost said, 'are-you-crazy-you're-going-to-get-raped.'

"Of course by myself. Who do you think I was going to go with? The tooth fairy?" Kairi suggested sarcastically.

_'Well she's in one of her moody mood swings again…must have been that fat ticket guy. I'd punch him, but I'd probably get kicked out of the theater...again.'_ Sora thought as he remembered the last incident when he got kicked out of the movie theater.

"Aww…come on Kai I'd pay for your ticket. I got extra money! Plus it's not like this is the first time we ever paid for each other's stuff. Like when we were 4 and I wanted this ice cream cone you paid for it for me…or when just last week I paid for your lunch…"

"Thank you Mr. Walking Memory Book," Kairi again added with sarcasm, "Sora I know we always pay for each other's things and all, but I'd feel bad if I made you pay for my movie ticket and all. It's really no big deal."

_'That's Kai…she never wants to take money from somebody.' _Sora smiled at her strong will, but was a bit annoyed at how stubborn she could get. Like last week when he paid for her lunch. It took almost the whole lunch period to convince her that he wouldn't mind paying for it. He also had to add in "If you die of anorexia I will seriously cry…" Kairi finally gave up after he said that and allowed him to pay for her lunch.

"Well when people go out the guy is supposed to pay everything for a lady so I kind of HAVE to pay for your ticket anyway," Sora explained as if he found a way to make Kairi watch the movie with him, Namine, and Roxas.

"That's on DATES Sora. Get your facts straight," Kairi replied as she started laughing hysterically. She held her stomach because it started to hurt and her eyes started to water. Her mood swing disappeared as she started laughing at Sora's innocence. Somehow Sora still knew how to make her happy even when she was in a crummy mood.

"W—well I…I…I didn't…I mean…you know…I…well you know what I mean Ka—Kai…I didn't mean we're well…we're on a da—date, I just…I well, I meant…" Sora stuttered. The coke in his hands began to shake from his nervous breakdown.

"I'm just teasing you Sora…I know what you meant. Gees don't die on me now. You're supposed to pay for my ticket remember?" Kairi asked as she pinched his cheeks.

"Oh…oh y—yeah…" Sora replied still embarrassed.

"But I HAVE to pay you back got it?" Kairi demanded.

"Well you don't need to—"

"GOT IT?" Kairi repeated.

Kairi smiled as she went back to the ticket booth where the fat man stared at her and gave her a strange look.

"Can I have one ticket to The Notebook please?" Kairi asked. (A/N: I love the movie the Notebook. It's such a sad chick flick!)

The guy gave another one of those aggravated grunts.

_'He sounds like a dying pig. Gees it's not like I'm asking him to give me his arm. I'm just asking for a ticket.' _Kairi thought as her eyebrows furrowed in aggravation.

"I thought you didn't have money…next time come prepared…" the guy at the ticket booth muttered.

"Here's the money!" Sora chimed in with a huge grin on his face, "Sorry about that. I was over there buying popcorn!"

The guy made that same grunting noise again and finally handed Kairi her ticket. Sora gave the guy a mean glare that was saying, 'stop-being-a-jerk-or-I'll-beat-you-up.'

Kairi snatched back the ticket and walked to wear Roxas and Namine were waiting.

"Kids these days. Always going on dates and always unprepared…" the guy at the ticket booth muttered in annoyance as he watched Sora and Kairi walk away.

"Gees that guy sounded like a dying pig!" Sora joked.

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Kairi laughed.

"What took you guys so long?" Namine asked both Sora and Kairi as they approached Roxas and Namine

"That fat excuse for an employee that's why," Sora replied back harshly as Kairi started laughing.

"It's nothing really…the guy was just being mean that's all," Kairi explained in the more civilized way.

"Well let's get going we're gonna miss the movie!" Roxas hurried as they went inside the movie theater.

"Roxas if you cry during this movie you owe me 20 bucks," Sora smirked as he finalized his bet.

"You're on!" Roxas and Sora shook hands as if to seal the deal. Then Roxas lead the way as he found an aisle with 4 seats and they all sat down together.

(During the movie)

Sora sighed out of boredom. This movie just wasn't what he wanted to watch. If he was in the mood to watch something sad and romantic then he'd probably enjoy the movie, but at the moment he was in for something with action.

Sora looked to his left and saw Namine crying on Roxas's shoulder and Roxas did seem to have a tear threatening to fall out any minute now.

_'Score! 20 bucks!'_ Sora smiled as he turned his attention back to Kairi who didn't look like she was going to cry at all probably because she had already read the book 4 times and cried through the book twice already.

"Hey Kai want to have the popcorn contest?" Sora asked mischievously since he was bored. Chick flicks just weren't his kind of movie.

Kairi yawned and turned her attention to Sora, "Sure that'd be awesome!"

"Ready?" Sora asked as Kairi prepared to catch the popcorn in her mouth. Her mouth was open and prepared to catch the popcorn. Sora threw popcorn in the air and Kairi attempted to catch it with her mouth, but it didn't work.

"Darn it!" Kairi muttered.

"You suck!" Sora teased.

"Not like you're any better!" Kairi retorted as she threw popcorn in the air and Sora tried to catch it with his mouth, but it nearly hit him in the eye. Kairi started cracking up as soon as she saw Sora flinch.

"SHH DO YOU MIND?" A lady hissed and put her finger to her lip making the 'shh-ing' sound.

The popcorn contest continued for the rest of the movie and it was tied…  
0 to 0, but they were having fun so it didn't matter if they sucked at it…or if they tied for that matter.

(A little while later)

"Tap."

"Tap."

"Tap."

_What the hell?_ Roxas thought as he felt a tap on his shoulder. At first he thought maybe the lady behind him was trying to tell him something, but there was no lady behind him.

He looked to his left and saw popcorn flying on his shoulder.

"What the HELL?" Roxas whispered to Sora and Kairi.

"Sorry! We're having a popcorn eating contest…did we get any on you?" Kairi apologized.

"You think?" Roxas pointed to his left shoulder, which was covered in popcorn that both Sora and Kairi couldn't catch.

Sora and Kairi started laughing again and another round of 'shh-ing' was heard from annoyed people across the room.

"Are we seriously that loud?" Kairi whispered in a fit of giggles.

"Who cares?" Sora replied laughing along with Kairi.

"I care! I don't want to get kicked out of this theater! Namine is practically asleep right now and you guys are so loud you might wake her up," Roxas pointed out as they saw Namine sleeping delicately on Roxas's shoulder.

"Actually I kind of want to leave this theater anyway…" Sora trailed off, "I have to finish up my 20-page essay anyway."

"And I'm supposed to help…" Kairi retorted.

"No," Sora argued back.

"Yes…"

"No…"

"JUST GO!" Someone in the audience shouted extremely loudly.

"Gees! TOUGH CROWD!" Sora shouted back as he got up and grabbed Kairi's hand. He then turned to Kairi, "Kai we're GOING!"

"Are you guys crazy? You're acting drunk!" Roxas tried to convince Sora and Kairi into staying, but he wasn't doing a very good job.

"I think they put crack in our drinks to get us back for that whole ticket thing…" Kairi muttered back in all seriousness. Her finger was on her cheek in a thinking position and Sora nodded, completely agreeing with her.

"And they probably drugged Namine's drink…" Sora added so that the whole 'crack-in-our-drinks' would seem more logical.

"Uhh…okay…you know what…just go before someone ends up taking out a gun and shooting the both of you," Roxas joked.

"Yeah and have a nice day to you too!" Sora waved goodbye to Roxas as did Kairi and they left. Kairi tripped a couple of times considering that Sora still had his hand locked on hers and he was walking at an extremely fast speed that Kairi couldn't keep up to.

Roxas noticed that something was moving on his right shoulder.

"Mmm…this movie is so romantic isn't it Roxas?" Namine asked quietly.

"Yeah…it's…sweet…" Roxas replied.

_'Sweet? How can movies be sweet? Chocolate can be sweet…sugar can be sweet…but movies?'_ Roxas thought as he gave himself a mental kick that actually hurt.

"How long have I been sleeping for? I kept hearing laughing and shushing in my dreams…crazy huh?" Namine asked sleepily as she let out a small yawn and rubbed her eyes cutely.

"You have no idea…" Roxas muttered, but only to himself so Namine wouldn't hear. _'She looks so…cute…gorgeous…beautiful…amazing…' _

"Roxas?" Namine asked a second time.

"Ohh…uhh…you've been asleep for a little bit. Only 20 or 30 minutes," Roxas replied.

"Aww…I missed so much of the movie…" Namine took a sip of her soda and stuck her hand in the popcorn bag to find none left, "Hey! Where's the popcorn and where'd Sora and Kairi go?"

"Oh well they were being loud and they almost got kicked out so they decided to leave. Plus Sora had to write that 20 page story that counted for 50 percent of his grade and Kairi's supposed to help," Roxas answered back.

"Awww…that stinks…"

Another romantic scene came up and Namine started focusing on the movie again. Tears welt up in her eyes and she tried to brush them away.

"Don't worry Namine…if you cry I won't make fun of you," Roxas stated sweetly. Namine just smiled at him and let a few tears slide down her cheek.

"This movie is so sad and romantic…" Namine whispered as she leaned her head on Roxas's shoulder.

_'Okay…I don't know if I should put my hand on her shoulder…or if I shouldn't…?'_ Roxas argued with himself.

Roxas started to slide his arm around Namine, but he freaked out and pulled it back, hoping that Namine didn't see him.

Unfortunately for Roxas, Namine did notice and she giggled quietly to herself. She grabbed Roxas's arm and in return Roxas gave her a puzzled stare.

"What are you doing?" Roxas asked completely clueless.

Namine didn't say anything until she put Roxas's entire arm around her shoulder, "Oh well I'm cold and it's comfortable when you put your arm around my shoulder anyway. Don't you agree?" Namine asked casually and then added innocently, "Cause if you don't, you know I could always just take your arm and then pull it o—"

"No…no! It's fine! Perfectly fine!" Roxas stuttered. Namine just gave him another one of those dazzling smiles that made him go into a daze.

"Oh look! The movies over!" Namine pointed out as the 2 main characters went into one final, passionate kiss and the screen went blank. (A/N: That really didn't happen, but let's just pretend it did okay? Sorry if this is confusing, but I didn't want to add too much or too little detail)

"Oh…" Roxas was daydreaming that it was Namine and him kissing in the rain that passionately.

The 2 of them exited the movie theater. Since it was around 9:30 and both their curfews was around 10 o'clock they decided to hang around for a little bit longer.

"That was a good movie wasn't it Roxas? It was cute…'behind every great love there's a great story'." Namine quoted.

"Yeah…" Roxas replied back nervously.

"So Roxas…what do you want to do?" Namine questioned.

"Uhh…nothing really…anything's fine with you," Roxas answered back blushing a bit.

"Alright then let's go to the park!" Namine squealed, "I love the park…it reminds me of the times when we were little and we'd go on the swings. Come on!" Namine started running toward the nearest park, which just about 2 blocks away.

"Hey wait up!" Roxas yelled as he tried to catch up to Namine. He paused for a minute as he felt light drizzle coming down. _'I should take her home. She might get sick.'_

"Come on Roxas!" Namine shouted as she entered the small, but empty park.

"Namine it's raining I think I should take you home," Roxas suggested as he entered the park as well.

"Oh come on Roxas…don't you want to have fun?" Namine begged as she walked near the swing sets.

"But Namine you might get sick since it's raining," Roxas pleaded. He really didn't want her to get sick because then he wouldn't be able to see her as often and every moment he had with her, he cherished.

"I love the rain!" Namine exclaimed as she swirled around on one of the poles of the swing sets.

Thunder clapped in the distance and the rain began pouring. Namine jumped on the swing and started swinging. She didn't swing too high or too low because one.) she didn't want to get hit by lightning. Two.) she didn't want her foot to get scratched on the pavement.

"Namine you'll get hurt!" Roxas scolded as if he was her father.

"ROXAS!" Namine yelled as the thunder clapped loudly and the water drenched her silky white dress, which now clung to her body and Roxas could even see the small lining of her bra. Her hair was clinging to her face and was a bit messy…

And even through the rain she managed to look drop.dead.gorgeous.

_'He looks so cute like that, when he's overprotective. The way he cares about me…he's the best thing a girl could ask for!' _Namine thought as she examined his hair that was now on his face, instead of sticking up in that strange gravity-defying way it usually does. His clothes stuck to his body and his long white pants were drenched with water and dirt.

"WHAT IS IT NAMINE?" Roxas yelled back. The thunder sounded louder than ever and the pouring rain didn't help at all.

"CAN I TRUST YOU?" Namine shouted, as she swung on the swings at the same height - not too high, yet not too low so she could make eye contact with him when she swung forward. She looked at Roxas straight in the eye. Even though the rain blurred through her vision she could clearly see those beautiful blue eyes that matched her own. The one that showed his emotions and how much he cared for her.

"OF COURSE YOU CAN. WITH YOUR LIFE," Roxas replied back with a scream. He didn't understand what was going on or what Namine was leading to. Was this just a random question?

"THAN CATCH ME!" Namine screamed as she jumped off her swing. As the swing swung forward she jumped off of it and Roxas by reflex immediately caught her. Her legs were circling his waist and her hands were holding onto his neck in a death grip. Roxas lost balance because of the impact of the jump and ended up falling on his back and he rolled on top of her.

With the rain still pounding on both of them he looked at her laughing hysterically.

"That was just too fun Roxas…and you caught me! Even though I shouted it last minute you still caught me. It just shows how much I can trust you," Namine smiled at him. Her smile was so sincere and grateful. She was lucky to have a best friend like him…_'Just a best friend?'_ Her conscience asked.

"Roxas?" Namine replied as she realized he was just staring at her with that strange dazed look. And not only that…he was drawing closer to her.

"Roxas what's wrong? Are you oka--?" Namine was silenced as his lips came crashing down to hers. She gasped lightly from shock.

_'Oh my gosh…is he kissing me? What should I DO?'_ Namine started freaking out, _'KISS HIM BACK STUPID! KISS HIM BACK!'_

Namine opened her mouth and immediately his tongue slipped inside of her mouth, which caused her to moan loudly, but it was blocked out from the pounding rain and lightning combined. They were both all wet from the rain, but they didn't care.

Their hearts were beating extremely fast in unison. His hands were on her waist holding her firmly down. He felt like he needed to get closer to her, but he was already on top of her. Her hands slipped around his neck to pull his face closer to hers. The kiss became extremely passionate from the feelings that had been hidden inside for so long.

It seemed they had kissed for eternity, but unfortunately a very important thing called **oxygen** was needed and both pulled away. Roxas immediately jumped off of Namine from embarrassment and shame.

_'Oh great…this wasn't supposed to happen…not like this! How could I just kiss her like that? Without her permission! Gosh I'm such a jerk! Such a stupid jerk! What if she hates me now? …but then again that was one hell of a kiss! I don't think I regret it. I just hope she doesn't,' _Roxas thought.

"…Roxas…" Namine panted as she sat up and put her hand on her heart to feel her heart rate. It was fast…

And it was only this fast when he was around.

"Namine…I'm sorry…I shouldn't have just kissed you like that. It was horrible of me, I know and I'm so sorry…it was stupid." Roxas paused and the continued with a deep breath, "But…but…I…well I…I don't regret doing it."

"You mean…?" Namine trailed off.

"Wait…I need to finish or I might loose my guts and never end up saying this. Namine, I don't regret our kiss because I've been waiting for this kiss. I love you. Ever since the first time I met you I knew I loved you. Sure we were only babies and I didn't know what it was, but it was still **there.** I would never get why I was always nice to you or shy towards you, but strangely enough we became close friends and I grew comfortable around you, but our friendship **grew** and evolved and it brought back those same feelings I always had for you…" Roxas finished his speech and gulped from nervousness.

"Actions speak more than words," Namine stated quickly as she leaned in for another kiss. This one was just a quick shy kiss because Namine wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing.

"So you mean…?" Roxas trailed off.

"Yes Roxas. I love you too…and not in just a friendly way. In a 'everytime-I-see-you-my-heart-pumps-faster-and-I-want-to-kiss-you' kind of way. I knew we were meant to be since I first saw you. I just kept denying it because we were just friends, but now more than ever I want your lips on mine." Namine admitted.

"So…we're boyfriend and girlfriend?" Roxas whispered.

"I'd hope so…" Namine replied back, "Unless you don't want to then we don't have to because I'd understa—"

"Namine?" Roxas interrupted.

"Yes?" Namine asked as she stopped her ranting.

"Can I kiss you?" Roxas asked.

"Did you even have to ask?" Namine replied as he brought her into another passionate kiss. And through the rain they kept kissing…

Until curfew of course…

_'How am I going to explain this one to mom?'_ Roxas thought, but ignored it and kept kissing Namine with all his heart.

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Wow! Long chapter! And I thought it was cute with Roxas and Namine!

Okay I have a list of apologies!

Sorry if you were confused with the whole NOTEBOOK movie thing…I didn't want to put up too much about the movie cause I knew it would confuse readers, but if I didn't put up enough it would be just as confusing so I was like…gah!

Sorry if this chapter's a bit too long? I got carried away with writing it!

Sorry I posted a bit late! I had to go to this party and my friend was trying to start drama with me…she thinks she's so cool now that she broke up with her oh-so-popular boyfriend…pshh. Then I had to watch the fourth of july fireworks on JULY SECOND! WHAT THE HECK? But whatever…my town is strange. Anyway…enough about my life…the next chapter will be what Sora and Kairi are doing at that particular moment, while Roxas and Namine had their 'moment' shall we call it? Haha. Next chapter should be up soon!

x3,  
LJ!


	8. Chapter 8: Crack In Drinks, Kiss in Rain

Disclaimer: Technically I own kingdom hearts the game, but sadly I don't actually kingdom hearts…too bad :(

Thanks to TidusYunaFan for the…banana? Haha it was much appreciated. I do like bananas so thank you very much :). You were my favorite reviewer of the chapter! 

Oh yeah from now on I'm going to give off a 'favorite reviewer' for each chapter!

Growing  
**Chapter 8:** **Crack in Drinks, Kiss in Rain (Part 2)**

"Can I read it now?" Kairi asked persistently. For the past 15 minutes after leaving the movie theater and returning to Sora's house, Kairi had been asking Sora if she could read his story. Sora kept saying no of course, but she just kept asking.

"No," Sora repeated for the millionth time.

"How about now?" Kairi asked.

"No."

"Now?" Kairi pleaded again.

"For the BAJILLIONTH TIME KAI…NO!" Sora yelled.

Kairi pouted, "But So-raaaaaaaaaa…I promise I won't make fun of you! I bet you this story is amazing and you're just trying to deprive me of a good story! So-raaaaaaaaaa…please? You're my bestest friend ever."

Sora tried to resist. It was all he could do. She looked so cute with her pink lips when the bottom lip slightly covered the top lip; and a nice tasty shade of pink if he may add; or when her big ocean blue eyes opened a bit more wider, or when her gorgeous dark red/brown hair that hung a bit below her shoulders swayed the direction she went.

"Kai no!" Sora answered firmly as he closed his eyes so he wouldn't be able to see her utmost adorable pout on the face of this planet.

"Aww…Sora why are you closing your eyes? Why don't you open them?" Kairi asked…almost seductively? Or was he hearing things again?

"B—because I feel like it…" Sora replied back nervously.

"Why do you feel like it?" Kairi asked again in that tone…it almost turned Sora on and he could feel it too. At this rate he was going to jump her and end up kissing the hell out of her if she didn't stop NOW.

"Ka—kai…I can close my…uhh…" Sora almost forgot what he was saying because at that moment Kairi had sat right next to him and was stroking his face. Was it really his fault that he couldn't remember what he was going to say because Kairi was stroking his face really delicately?

Nope, not his fault at all.

"You mean close your eyes?" Kairi finished for him as she started giggling. _'It's like I control Sora or something…aww he's so cute.'_ Kairi thought.

"Yeah…I can close my eyes whenever I want to!" Sora explained as brave as he could, which wasn't very much considering how nervous he was.

"Sureeeeee…" Kairi muttered with lots of sarcasm. Kairi then grabbed Sora's face. She was going to force his eyes open, but she didn't know what to do. She attempted to open his eyes with her fingers, but when she got part of his eyes to open only the white part showed, which made Kairi yelp a little. _'Oh I know what I'll do…' _Kairi thought deviously.

"Ka—kai…what are you doing?" Sora asked nervously.

"I'm going to strip for you duh," Kairi replied confidently.

"**WHAT!**" Sora screamed as his eyes flew open.

"Kidding! I wasn't really going to strip! There I knew I could open your eyes!" Kairi started laughing uncontrollably, "HAHAHAHAHA, your eyes…hahahahaha…they just FLEW OPEN…HAHAHAHAHA…and your MOUTH LIKE…hahaha…it CAME TO THE GROUND AND…HAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

"KAIRI that was not FUNNY!" Sora yelled trying to cover his blush, "I THOUGHT YOU WERE SERIOUSLY GOING TO STRIP FOR ME."

"Then why'd you open your eyes huh?" Kairi interrogated as her right eyebrow arched.

"Because uhh…" Sora trailed off completely embarrassed. _'Why did I open my eyes again?'_ Sora asked.

'_Admit it…because you WANTED to see her strip._' A part of his conscience retorted. The thought just made Sora blush even redder because he ALMOST pictured Kairi doing something like that.

"Huh Sora?" Kairi asked with a big smirk on her face.

"I-was-going-to-try-to-stop-you-from-stripping-that's-why!" Sora answered all in one breath. "I mean if I closed my eyes and tried to stop you I might accidentally hit the table you know?" 

"Uh…huh…" Kairi muttered still completely clueless as to what the heck Sora was getting so nervous about. It was a rhetorical question. He didn't ACTUALLY have to answer it and yet here he was shaking like it was 100 degrees below zero. Usually Sora would just tease her back and it would get comfortable again. Maybe he was starting to get moody?

"Yeah…" Sora was staring around nervously.

"So how's your story going?" Kairi asked to lighten up the mood and start a casual conversation.

"I'm actually almost done with it. I'm just trying to find an ending for it…I think my story is going to turn out kind of sad," Sora explained, but frowned at the sad ending.

"Aww…why? Are you turning emo?" Kairi asked frightened. She could not picture Sora emo. Sure he wore black occasionally, but she couldn't picture him wearing the eyeliner and cutting himself. She shuddered on reflex.

"No I'm not turning EMO! It's just that…I'm not sure if the girl likes the guy back and I know the guy likes the girl. It's like…I'm not sure if the characters were meant to be…" Sora confessed awkwardly.

"Since when were you all…I don't know…a romantic?" Kairi questioned. Maybe this wasn't the right topic to bring up to stop an awkward moment.

"I am NOT being a romantic!" Sora denied.

"Mmhmm…whatever…" Kairi dismissed the subject. It was making things more awkward and she just hated when that happened. Sora and her were best friends and they didn't usually have these uncomfortable moments. She just liked things comfortable. "My mom's going to be here in like 45 minutes what should we do?" Kairi asked.

"We could play tag like we did that day we were SUPPOSED to do my story, but didn't?" Sora suggested deviously as his fingers rose up and squirmed signaling the ticklish motion.

Kairi grabbed his fingers. "No way! You always win anyway! Plus your mom is upstairs! She might get mad if she hears us running around like 5-year-olds," Kairi pointed out.

"Okay why don't we salsa dance?" Sora joked.

"Sora come on! Let's be serious! I wish I could sleepover today, but I'm sleeping over Sunday to Monday and then we could go to school together," Kairi scolded.

"KNOCK! KNOCK!"

"Who the hell would knock on your door when it's raining outside and it's late at night?" Kairi asked nervously. Her eyes showed a great deal of fear and Sora decided to use this opportunity to scare her.

"A killer?" Sora teased.

"Sora shut up and be careful when you answer the door!" Kairi lectured.

"Okay mom!" Sora joked back again as he went to open the door to see none other than…

Riku…well a wet Riku, but still Riku nonetheless.

"Riku what the hell are you doing here?" Sora questioned.

"I was walking in the **park** and it started to rain…" Riku answered bitterly.

"Anything wrong Riku? You look a bit upset," Kairi asked worriedly as she tried to search his eyes for any sort of emotion. She swerved her body and it was angled in an awkward position. Her body was sort of in front of Sora and her legs were next to him and sure it was uncomfortable, but she wanted to look in his eyes. Usually Riku's eyes showed his emotion.

"N—no I'm fine…" Riku stuttered as he turned his head down to stare at the ground.

"I wonder what Roxas and Namine are doing…" Sora asked.

"You don't want to know," Riku mumbled sadly. _'Goddamn it! Maybe I shouldn't have gone to the park to think. Last time I go there anyway.'_

"What?" Kairi stared at him curiously, "Were they at the park too?"

"Maybe," Riku replied back broadly.

"Why'd you come here Riku? To play with our minds or something?" Sora asked annoyed at how Riku was beating around the bush.

"I just wanted to use your phone to tell my mom I might be home late today," Riku grumbled as he went over to use the phone.

"Gee thanks for ASKING," Sora stated sarcastically.

"Sora!" Kairi scolded. "I think he's having a rough day. Just let him go."

"What the hell is he sad about? Did he have a bad hair day? Did a girl finally reject him? Did he catch the love of his life cheating on him?" Sora retorted back sarcastically.

Unaware to Sora and Kairi, Riku could still hear them and muttered, "Close to it." He hung up the phone and came back in the room.

"Oh hey Riku!" Kairi greeted as she kicked Sora in the shin, "Did you call your mom?"

"Yeah I'm going to head out now. Thanks for the phone. Bye guys," Riku thanked as he walked out the door with shoulders slumped and a head hung low.

"I wonder what's up with Riku. Maybe we can cheer him up tomorrow," Sora suggested.

"Maybe…" Kairi replied.

"So what do you want to do?" Sora turned around to face Kairi with a bored look on his face.

"I don't really know! Want to go walking in the rain or something?" Kairi suggested this time.

"I don't know…we'd get wet and stuff and you'd get sick. Then we wouldn't be able to have our sleepover," Sora fake pouted.

"Oh boo hoo. We have sleepovers like every week. What difference would it be if we lost ONE sleepover?" Kairi retorted as she rolled her eyes. She walked over and grabbed her coat and her flip flops. She threw Sora his jacket, "You coming or what?"

"I'm coming," Sora replied as he walked with Kairi out the door. He paused for a second to feel how hard the rain was coming and so far it was only light.

"Oh come on Sora. It isn't that bad. Just come out for a walk…please?" Kairi pouted once again and Sora started walking toward Kairi.

"You know it's going to rain hard!" Sora pointed out as he looked at the low, gray clouds.

"Then it'll be more fun to dance in the rain won't it?" Kairi giggled as she started running around and jumping in puddles like they did when they were younger.

Sora smiled at how childish Kairi was acting. He enjoyed when they hung out like this and just talked. "You know Kai, we haven't really just walked and talked in a while."

Kairi stopped jumping around and gave him a serious stare, "Uhh…I guess. Wait what do you mean?"

"I don't know…like a serious talk. The last time we talked was about that guy you had a crush on…what was his name…?" Sora yakked.

"Let's not bring him up again. He was such a jerk and I don't even know why I liked that guy. Axel was a **lowlife **and I didn't even like him, okay?" Kairi attempted to end the conversation right there, but Sora was persistent.

"But then why did you sort of like him? He was 2 years older and if you ask me he looked like a clown with that big red hair and that strange black mark under his eyes and…" Sora rambled as he pointed out all the flaws in Axel.

"Okay I get it. I basically 'crushed' on a CLOWN. I don't even think I LIKED him. And how long was it? A day? A week? It was only to make this person jealous and it didn't work," Kairi explained as she started to walk ahead.

"Wait…make who jealous?" Sora interrogated. He wasn't going to let this one slide. This was a serious subject.

"Nobody!" Kairi denied, "Hey did you know that Namine has a brother named Demyx. He used to be friends with Axel."

"Stop changing the subject and YES I knew that anyway. Demyx and Namine kind of look alike," Sora added. "ANYWAY…what was that whole jealous thing all about? It wasn't RIKU right?"

"No of course not! I would never like him ANYWAY," Kairi shuddered at the thought of her ever liking Riku. 

"Ohh…" Sora let out a sigh of relief.

"Why are we talking about this anyway?" Kairi questioned as they walked in the rain together. She started to shiver a bit and looked up to see the rain coming down harder. _'Gees no wonder why it's getting colder.'_

"I was just…uhh curious…if you well…liked Axel…a lot…" Sora trailed off and stuttered, "I mean…I thought you liked him…and I thought you liked Riku…a lot…"

"You mean, you wanted to know if I loved them? Gees Sora you make it sound like I like every other person in the world. I didn't even like Axel, and I would never like Riku. He's a friend. Calm down," Kairi explained calmly.

"I just…I didn't want you to love them…" Sora mumbled. Luckily for him Kairi didn't hear him.

"But you know Sora, I do love my family and my best friend too you know?" Kairi smiled and touched the tip of Sora's nose with her finger. "I never liked any of those guys okay? But Sora you know I love you right? You've always been there for me! So that's one thing you can brag about that no one else can…well except my family. Oh and I do love Namine and Selphie as friends too."

Sora sighed. _'As friends…of course…'_

"Yeah…and of course I love you too Kairi," Sora smiled at her genuinely, "I think you're like the only best friend I've known forever."

"I better be!" Kairi teased. "You basically know every single one of my secrets Sora. You know that I'm not a morning person, that I've got a birthmark on my butt, which you saw when we were 3 because your mom and my mom thought it would be cute if we took a bath together." At this point Sora started laughing hysterically. "Not just that. You know I secretly have a thing for sappy movies and that if you tickle me on my foot too long I get angry."

"The list is endless for your strange behavior, but I think that's what makes you an awesome best friend," Sora complimented.

"Why I'm touched," Kairi stated sarcastically as her hand went to hear heart. The mood had started to lighten up and things were back to being silly again. "Hey Sora let's race back to your house!"

"Are you serious? You know I'd so beat your sorry little birthmark-ed butt!" Sora teased.

"That was awfully funny Sora because if I heard you correctly you said that you'd BEAT me and if I'm not mistaken I was the fastest girl on my TRACK team!" Kairi pointed out. She put her hair in a loose ponytail so that it wouldn't whip her face when she ran.

"Uh huh…that's great Kai," Sora rolled his eyes.

"Fine then…on your mark…" Kairi started.

"Get set…" Sora continued.

"…G—HEY SORA!" Kairi screamed as Sora got a head start and ran ahead of her, "YOU CHEATER!" Kairi ran at full speed even with her flip flops on. She was accelerating at a fast speed. Now she was close behind him. She forced her legs to go faster and she ended up right in front of Sora.

"That's not FAIR! How come you were born with the abnormally fast LEGS?" Sora yelled as Kairi zoomed ahead of him. Kairi turned around and started running backwards so she could face Sora. She was making faces at him and made the loser sign on her forehead.

"HAHA! Sora is a slow runner and a FREAK!" Kairi jested. She was still running backwards, yet she still ran swiftly. Sora was starting to catch up to her, but he was laughing so hard that it was harder for him to accelerate. He reached out his hand to grab Kairi's arm, but he missed.

"KAI!" Sora screamed as he tried to reach out and grab her arm a second time.

"NUH UH SORA!" Kairi scolded as she shook her head left and right signaling that Sora couldn't cheat again. She was nearing Sora's house and they were already on the driveway.

"GOTCHA!" Sora shrieked as he grabbed Kairi's hand, but at the same time Kairi had tripped over a slippery rock underneath her. Since Kairi was running backwards and Sora was grabbing her, Kairi's back hit the ground. Lucky for Kairi, Sora's hand slipped behind her head so there were no injuries on her head, but a few on Sora's hand. As they fell it seemed like everything was in slow motion. Kairi's head fell on Sora's hand, her body hit the ground, and then Sora's body hit hers and then…

**Their lips connected**.

It wasn't supposed to happen. Their first kiss was an accident of course, but it was still their first kiss none the less. She could feel the impact as his lips hit hers. Their eyes both widened in shock and they stared at each other for a few seconds unsure what to do.

The only thing Sora could think of was how she tasted…she tasted like paopu fruit, which was probably from her chap stick that she always used. He wanted to taste more, but what if he did? Would it leave a huge dent in their friendship that couldn't be fixed?

Kairi's body froze in shock and she didn't know what to do. Her mind screamed to move, but her body wouldn't do it. It was like she wasn't functioning properly. Did her body want to stay like that or something? No it was impossible, but yet she couldn't resist to taste his lips and she 'accidentally' tried to lick her lips and ended up licking his in the process.

He took this as an opportunity to just taste her a little bit more and his tongue traced over the lining of her lip. He tried to make it seem accidental or something casual for he was in shock too.

"Step. Step."

Sora and Kairi were completely unaware of their surroundings. It was as if their seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling were all focused into that one kiss.

"SORA! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?" Mrs. Hikari shrieked from the front step and she ran toward the two on the driveway.

Sora and Kairi jumped apart. The kiss was only a couple of seconds or so, but it seemed more like eternity, smashed into a couple beautiful seconds.

"Mo—mom it's not what you…you think…you see…Ka—kai slipped on a rock and…and it was a…an accident…" Sora panted from nervousness and from the kiss.

"Oh it's alright if you two are a couple I won't tell if you don't want to," Mrs. Hikari winked.

"B—but Mom we aren't!" Sora stuttered.

"Mmhmm…so I just caught you guys kissing in the rain by the off chance Kairi slipped on a rock and you just so happened to land on top of her and your lips just so happened to land on hers?" Mrs. Hikari asked.

Okay when she said it like that…maybe it did sound a bit farfetched.

"MOM!" Sora whined, "I—it's…YES. That's what happened!"

Mrs. Hana pulled into the driveway and stared at all 3 of them. She immediately came out of the car with an umbrella over her head.

"It's pouring outside what are you guys doing?" Mrs. Hana questioned.

"I…I should go…" Kairi whispered as she walked to the car. A blush was still visible on her cheeks.

Sora stared at her with devastation written across his face, "I'm sorry…" was all he managed to whisper back. Kairi could only pull a weak smile to let him know it wasn't his fault.

Kairi opened the car door and sat inside the car. Mrs. Hana shut Kairi's door for her and just stared at her peculiarly before she went back to the driver's seat. The warm cushions kept Kairi warm from the cold rain, but not as warm as that kiss made her feel.

"Kairi sweetheart what's going on?" Mrs. Hana was persistent and kept asking. Kairi didn't answer. She was too wrapped up in her thoughts.

_'I don't get it. Why didn't I just pull away? Why was I blushing?'_ Kairi sighed. The inevitable had come…or maybe…it was evitable? It was so unpredictably predictable, so why didn't she see that it was going to happen sooner or later? '_Oh gosh. I'm in love with my best friend. How could I not see this? Our friendship had **grown** into something called…love and it took an accidental kiss for me to figure it out.'_

And now she couldn't deny the truth…

She **slipped** on a kiss and **fell** in love.

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Wow this took me a long time to write, but I loved writing it!

Sorry it took me long to post again and my next post might take another 3 to 4 days because tomorrow I have to go swimming, then Saturday I have to go to watch PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN 2! YAY! And then my friend is turning 18 so I have to go to her party. Then on Sunday my friend is coming over to hang with me and then another friend might come over to sleepover! Whew…busy weekend!

Anyway I hope you liked the chapter! And again thanks to all the people who gave me cookies and bananas? Haha…you guys are awesome ). And remember every chapter I'm going to give a "favorite reviewer of the chapter!"

x3,  
LJ.


	9. Chapter 9: Okay, Breathe, Confess

Disclaimer: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, Sora and Kairi wouldn't have just "shook hands" at the end of Kingdom Hearts 2. WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT! The least they could do was hug! I mean they let Ariel and Eric from the little mermaid kiss! Okay the point is I don't own Kingdom Hearts so enough rambling!

Favorite Reviewer**s** of the chapter: Okay I couldn't pick between 3 people so I'm going to list my favorite 3 this chapter  
XxmylastbreathxX: I love how you gave me a GIANT cookie this chapter! Lol. Thanks for the cookies!  
Kairi4Sora: You're reviews really help me write and you're one of the people that review me the most!  
KaI-KaI01: You're reviews are so cute and you review me a lot as well! I'm glad you added me to your favorite stories! 

Growing  
**Chapter 9: Okay, Breathe, and Confess**

"Kairi dear! Wake up! You've been sleeping really long." Mrs. Hana knocked on Kairi's door that Sunday morning.

_'Ugh…what time is it? Is it 10:30?'_ Kairi thought groggily. Usually Kairi was an early bird and woke up early. Even though Kairi wasn't a morning person she rather wake up early and have time to do things than wake up late and have less time for doing anything. For Kairi on a typical Saturday or Sunday she woke up at 9 o'clock (with the help of 7 alarm clocks) or 10 o'clock at latest. At 10 her mom would usually call her to wake up.

Kairi lifted her head slightly to see the time on the clock…

"WHAT THE--!" Kairi screamed as she looked on her clock to see the time. "12:30? MOM!" Kairi bellowed, "WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP?"

Kairi's mom poked her head into Kairi's room with a guilty smile on her face. "Aww…Kairi, I just didn't want to wake you up. You looked so peaceful and I know you had a rough night yesterday, although you won't tell me…but I just couldn't wake you up."

Kairi sighed. This was **so** her mother. Every time she did something that got on Kairi's nerves she somehow found a way to make Kairi **not** mad at her.

How do mothers do it?

"Oh by the way sweetheart…you've got a message on your phone. I think Namine called you a couple of times," Mrs. Hana explained as she walked out of the room. "OH AND BY THE WAY! LUNCH WILL BE READY IN 10!"

"Argh…" Kairi groaned and put her hand to her forehead. She was a bit dizzy right now from sleeping so long and at first she stumbled on her first few steps.

_'Oh man…Namine wouldn't believe! I had the weirdest dream that Sora and I kissed…'_ Subconsciously Kairi's hand touched her lips, _'Oh wait…Sora and I…**did** kiss! Oh and I just realized I'm in love with my best friend and he probably doesn't like me back!_'

Kairi walked over to her answering machine and listened to her voice messages. She pressed the play button and her messages played.

"HEY KAIKAI! This is SELPHIE! GOSH WE HAVEN'T GONE SHOPPING IN SO LON—"

"Next message PLEASE…" Kairi moaned as she pressed the next button. She was not in the mood to hear one of her good friends, Selphie, who was a cheerleader (and was a darn good one), rant on in her high-pitched voice about shopping.

"Hello, this is Jane calling from Destiny Online. We're having a special deal for our customers with our new DESTINY DSL PACKAGE with comes with a free—"

"I thought I blocked calls from that company…" Kairi mumbled as she pressed the next button.

"Okay Kairi…I'm having trouble breathing right now…" the person had taken a deep breath in and out, "You won't believe what happened. The best thing happened to me. I just…okay I need to breathe. And lately my inspiration to paint has become much stronger become of this wonderful experience. Oh gosh I'm so happy all the time now. You wouldn't believe Kairi! You have to call me or we have to go to the park to walk or we could go to the mall to just hang out? We can invite Roxas and Sora! Or we can go by ourselves! What do you say? Please?" Namine pleaded as she ranted on some more about this 'wonderful experience.'

If Kairi was fully awake maybe she'd care a little bit more, but right now she was in a 'not so wonderful' mood for waking up late, kissing her best friend the night before, and she still didn't brush her teeth yet!

Kairi walked to the bathroom, and this time she didn't stumble. She combed her hair and brushed her teeth. She walked downstairs to eat…brunch? Lunchfast? Well some sort of breakfast and lunch meal combined.

"Oh Kairi you still haven't changed out of your pajamas,"

"I know…I will," Kairi muttered. "Anyway, uhh…Mom can I go to the mall with Namine?"

"I'm not sure Kairi…" Mrs. Hana stated unsurely.

"But Mom! I'll change my clothes!" Kairi argued.

"All right, all right…just don't spend too much money," Mrs. Hana commanded.

"I won't. Don't worry," Kairi reassured. She swiftly climbed the steps two at a time and walked towards her room so she could change. She stared at her wardrobe for a few seconds just trying to plan her outfit in her head. Eventually she decided to wear something casual to go to the mall. She wore a pair of short jean shorts, a light pink camisole, and a white zipper up hoodie, with flip flops. She tied her hair in a loose ponytail and grabbed her bag.

"Ring! Ring!" Kairi's cell phone started ringing loudly and Kairi reached over to grab it. First she looked at the caller ID and it read, "Nam Nam," Which was a name Namine hated, but Kairi loved to tease her about it.

"Hey Namine!" Kairi greeted.

"Hello Kairi! I just wanted to know if you got my message. I called you at 10 o'clock on my cell phone, but you weren't awake," Namine explained.

"Yeah I got your like…REALLY LONG message. I was just going to call your cell and tell you I could go to the mall." Kairi was pacing in her room when her arm accidentally hit the top of her wardrobe where she kept some unknown items and her old photo album made a loud 'thump' as it hit the floor, "Oww! Eww…" Kairi muttered as all the dust flew out of it. She put her phone down for a second. She pinched her nose with one hand and moved the other side to side to blow away all the dust.

"What happened Kairi?" Namine asked, but dismissed the subject since Kairi wasn't answering. "Anyway. Are you going to come to the mall with me? How about we meet there in 20 minutes because it takes us 10 minutes to walk to the mall and I have to prepare."

"Huh? Oh yeah that's fine…20 minutes…mmhmm…" Kairi replied as she picked up her cell phone. She was half-paying attention and half observing the photo album.

"So you want to invite Roxas and Sor—"

"No!" Kairi replied abruptly.

Namine gave the phone a strange look almost as if Kairi was there. She fiddled with her blonde hair, which she usually did when she was suspicious, "Umm…okay, but why not? We always hang out with them, oh and Riku too, but Riku hasn't been answering my calls. I wonder what's wrong with him. He's really got me worried…" Namine trailed off.

"Yeah last night Riku looked really depressed. Maybe on the way back from the mall we'll visit him…" Kairi suggested as she opened the photo album and started flipping through the pages. There was Kairi the day she was born, Kairi's first birthday, Kairi's first steps, and a whole bunch of things. There were also many pictures of her and Sora. Of course there was the picture of when Sora and her took a bath together when they were 3. Sora's bright blue eyes were staring at the camera and they looked so big on his small face. His brown hair was still wild and wacky, but that just added more to his adorable factor. Then there was little Kairi was splashing the water in the picture and smiling. Kairi smiled at the picture and kept turning the pages.

"Kairi? Are you there?" Namine questioned.

"Huh? Yeah…" Kairi responded.

"So I'll meet you at the mall in 20 minutes is that all right?" Namine asked.

"Yep perfect," Kairi answered.

"Bye Kairi!" There was a click on the other end of the line signaling the end of the conversation.

Kairi looked at the next picture, which was Sora and her sharing an ice cream cone. Both of their tiny hands locked on the ice cream cone, so their fingers were laced together. Both of them were on opposite sides as they licked the ice cream with their tongues sticking out. Kairi started giggling as she looked at how wide Sora's mouth had opened.

The next picture was she and Sora in the pool. Their arms were linked together and they were smiling happy. Kairi remembered that day vividly. They had a swimming race together and they tied. Mrs. Hikari thought it would be cute to take a picture after their big race.

Kairi couldn't help, but smile. _'We really did come a long way didn't we? This is stupid. I should've invited them to the mall. I can't believe I'm letting that kiss get to me…'_

A part of Kairi's conscience then added, '_Or the fact that you're letting your extreme love block out your friendship.'_

_'Or was it our friendship that blinded our love?' _Kairi wondered, but shook her head fervently and looked at the clock. It read 12:47. She was supposed to be at the mall by 12:55 or 1:00 and she definitely wasn't going to make it at this rate. She jumped up, closed the photo album and placed it gently on her bed. She'd probably look at it later…

Oh wait…her sleepover with Sora was LATER! How could she go to it? Especially after that kiss and her newly discovered feelings…

_'Remember Kairi…you're not supposed to let it bother you. You're supposed to continue being friends. You HAVE to go to it,'_ Kairi commanded herself.

Kairi ran downstairs and grabbed her bag and her cell phone, which she left on the lunch table.

"Be back later Mom!" Kairi shouted as she ran past her.

"Don't come back too late. Oh yeah and aren't you supposed to go to a sleepover with Sora?" Mrs. Hana asked while washing some dishes.

"Yeah! I'll talk to you later! Bye mom!" Kairi yelled as she ran out the door and sprinted as fast as she could to the mall. A car nearly hit her twice, but she was quick enough to zoom in front of it. One time she had to jump on top of the hood of the car and slide over it. The guy of course was extremely pissed off. After a while she could see the mall in sight, but it was still a good distance away. She was on the sidewalk jogging now, but she noticed a blonde figure ahead of her.

"Kairi!" Namine waved her hand high so that Kairi could see who was calling her. Namine was only about 10 feet away and Kairi quickly ran up to catch up to her.

"H—hey Namine…" Kairi panted as she bent over and her hands went down no her knees so she could have time to catch her breath. The mall was only 4 or 5 blocks down so she could walk with Namine now.

"Why were you running?" Namine questioned as she stared at Kairi in bewilderment. "Were you in a rush?"

"Yeah I kinda left the house late and I didn't want to keep you waiting," Kairi explained. "Sooooo…what was the big news you wanted to tell me?"

"Oh we'll discuss about it when we go sit down and get some dessert," Namine said and the two walked toward the mall. When they arrived at the mall they walked to their most favorite dessert store ever, Cinnabon. As usual Kairi ordered a Tropical chillata, which was a mango and orange flavored ice drink, with whipped cream and strawberry sauce on it. Namine got two, big cinnamon buns. They found a secluded seat and started chatting.

"So how's it going?" Kairi asked as she started a typical conversation.

"It's extremely good!" Namine replied back brightly. Kairi eyed her strangely.

_'Okay, whatever happened must've been really great because I've never seen Namine smile so much.'_ Kairi wondered what could've happen, but nothing seemed to come up.

"So…what did you need to tell me again?" Kairi asked.

"Umm…" Namine tried to build her courage up by coaching herself. '_You can do this! You can tell her. You have to tell her! She's like your best friend ever!_' Namine thought, "Okay…so what happened was…"

"SLURP!" Kairi accidentally took a loud sip of her Tropical chillata and instantly Namine's courage died out as fast as throwing water over fire. "Oh sorry! Carry on!" Kairi apologized.

Namine took deep breaths in and out until she was ready. "Okay…so, well…"

"Mmhmm?" Kairi mumbled giving Namine her full attention. Namine seemed to be searching for words and if Kairi wasn't mistaken she seemed to turn a really…**dark** shade of red.

"Umm…" Namine paused for a second, "OKAY! Roxas-and-I-sort-of-kissed-and-I-think-I'm-in-love-with-him-and-he-loves-me-too-and-we're-a-couple!" Namine rushed all in one breath.

Kairi just stared at her in shock. _'Wait did she just say Boxes are kissed with love and come in couples or did she just say Roxas and her kissed and are an official couple?'_ Kairi thought. "Okay? Can you repeat that and this time can you not press the fast forward button so I can understand each word you say?" Kairi teased.

"I told you all ready Kairi! I can't say it again. Do you know how hard it was to say it once?" Namine pleaded. Her head was facing downwards and her knife was stuck in the second cinnabon. Apparently she had lost her appetite.

"Oh come on Namine…it's not that hard. I think I all ready know what you said ANYWAY so just come out with it a second time. It's not that hard," Kairi argued.

"Okay…Roxas and I…well…uhh…" Namine started to stutter and her mouth became a huge jumble. It was like the words were mixing up in her mouth.

"You kissed? Okay…continue…" Kairi encouraged as she smiled at Namine kindly.

"And well we are sort of in…" Namine trailed off. She was extremely embarrassed to say it now…what if people were** staring** at her?

"You guys are in love…alright and what did you say next?" Kairi finished for her again.

"And we're a couple!" Namine exclaimed a little too loudly and stood up in her chair with a big smile on her face…

**Now** people were **staring** at her.

She sat back down in her seat and blushed again.

"Oh my gosh! Congratulations Namine!" Kairi congratulated as she got out of her seat and gave Namine a humongous hug. Both Namine and Kairi were laughing together. "Oh you guys make such a cute couple together and I know you guys love each other so much! This is just perfect! When's your first date?"

"I'm not sure, but I hope soon!" Namine smiled again and had this dazed look on her face.

Kairi was so happy for her best friend, but all of this lovesick stuff…she just couldn't take it because she had her own love problems of her own. She was considering telling Namine what happened with Sora, but she knew she needed to figure this out by herself.

"Let's go shopping," Kairi suggested, so it would help take her mind off of her problems with Sora.

"What?" Namine asked completely confused.

"Well…you're going to need a new outfit for your date with Roxas and I need something to help me relax so let's go shopping!" Kairi explained happily.

"But…well…umm…okay?" Namine stammered.

After lots of shopping and a lot of…"that's not your color," or, "too slutty," they finally finished. Kairi nearly bought every single thing in every store. She bought bathing suits, shirts, pants, shorts, sunglasses, and even a…balloon…! Balloons are supposed to be FREE, but Kairi insisted on paying the guy at least a dollar. Had she gone crazy?

"Oh my gosh shopping with you was SO fun Kairi! I hope Roxas likes my outfits that I bought! My mom's going to pick me up do you need a ride?" Namine offered.

"Oh no…I need to walk home because I'm going to a sleepover. I'll talk to you later okay?" Kairi explained.

Namine nodded and smiled at Kairi, "And thanks again Kairi! Bye!"

"Bye Namine!" Kairi quickly walked to her house. In 10 minutes Kairi was back at her home and searching for her duffle bag where she could throw her supplies in for the sleepover at Sora's house. She found it and rushed back to her room where she could pack.

"Okay…tootbrush. Check. Underwear. Check. Bra. Check. Pajamas. Check. Clothing for tomorrow. Check. Cell phone. Check. Comb. Check. School stuff for tomorrow. Check. Okay I think I'm ready to go…" Kairi muttered to herself as she grabbed her duffle bag to head back out…**again**.

"Kairi where are you going…this time?" Mrs. Hana asked tiredly.

"I'm going to Sora's house for a sleepover remember?" Kairi reminded.

"Oh yes. I forgot. Well have fun! And tell Mrs. Hikari that I found that secret recipe that she was looking for," Mrs. Hana added. Kairi just stared at her mother strangely, but nodded anyway. Her mother and Sora's mother always had these strange secret recipes they always tried to discover. Kairi was used to it by now.

"Will do," Kairi obeyed as she walked out of the door and towards Sora's house. Sora lived nearby so the walk wasn't far.

'_Okay so you kissed…no big deal. I mean I know friends who do that all the time…'_

'Actually, those kind of friends are called BOY**FRIENDS** AND GIRL**FRIENDS**,' Kairi's conscience retorted back.

_'NOT LIKE THAT…I mean…Selphie makes out with a whole bunch of guys she's not going out with. Like a couple of guys she's best friends with. She just does it for fun. I mean one kiss from Sora isn't as bad as that…' _Kairi pointed out as she kept walking slowly with her huge duffle bag in one arm that dragged her down.

_'Umm…have you forgotten that you kind of love him?_' her conscience added.

Kairi grunted and stopped talking to herself for the rest of the walk. _'At this rate I'm going to go in the mental institution for an annoying conscience.'_ Kairi's feet suddenly stopped walking and she looked up.

Kairi stared in front of her…

There she was, in front of Sora's house. _'How the hell did I get here so fast? I even walked slowly and TALKED to myself!'_ Kairi wondered, extremely annoyed.

She took deep breaths. This wasn't going to be awkward unless she brought up the kiss. So, she would act like it never happened and wouldn't bring it up.

She knocked on the door three times, since she knew that the doorbell was broken because last week because Sora and her were playing football on his lawn and the football slammed into the doorbell.

At first she didn't hear any sounds of anyone coming. She waited for a minute or two, but there was nothing. She assumed maybe Sora wanted to cancel it or he forgot. 

_'It's okay. Don't be upset. I mean Sora's forgetful like that…'_ Kairi tried to calm down as she started to walk down the front step. _'But it still hurts…_' Kairi added to herself as she reached the last step.

She heard a creak, but thought it was her imagination. Maybe she had gone so crazy that not only was she TALKING to herself, but also she was HEARING things.

"Ka—kai?" she heard a voice whispered in shock.

'_No…wait…is it?' _ Kairi thought. Kairi turned around slowly. One part of her wanted him to be there like the good old times, but another one just wished maybe she WAS going crazy and that she was HEARING things. Was she ready to face Sora so soon?

There he was standing right there. With the door and his mouth wide open. He was once again shirtless with a pencil stuck in his hair and a sheet of paper in his fingers. Kairi's eyes trailed down his body for a second and she stared at his **6 pack**, but she snapped back into reality.

"Y—yeah?" Kairi stammered.

"Y—you…ca—came," Sora stuttered.

**This was definitely going to be one hell of an awkward night.**

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UH OH! Next chapter is the sleepover of course! Now what is Sora and Kairi going to do? I know this chapter didn't have much fluff, but I really wanted a 'just girls' kind of chapter. Next chapter will DEFINITELY have more Sora and Kairi. Oh yeah and I'm thinking of making my story 13 or 14 chapters? BUT…my next story is going to be REALLY LONG.

Oh and…**GO ITALY!** In the world cup ITALY WON and I was voting for them! SORRY FOR ALL YOU FRANCE FANS, BUT YOU SAW HOW ZIDANE HEADED THAT ITALIAN GUY!

I'll try to update soon!

x3,  
LJ


	10. Chapter 10: Awkward,Comfortable,Bipolar

Disclaimer: Okay I don't own Kingdom Hearts or the characters and all of that, but…I DO OWN THIS STORY!

Favorite Reviewer**s** of the chapter: Ack! AGAIN I couldn't pick my favorite one so I tried to narrow it down to THREE!  
KaI-KaI01: Thanks for the cookie and the idea! You were my inspiration for this chapter!  
SoraKairi4Eva: I was touched when you said that you'd print it out! Thanks!   
XxmylastbreathxX: Thanks for the apple! You know what they say…an apple a day keeps the doctor away!

Growing  
**Chapter 10: Awkward, Comfortable, Bipolar.**

**(A/N: This is what Sora was doing a little while before Kairi came)**

After the kiss that evening all Sora had been doing was typing about his story. He actually finished it and it was exactly 33 pages. It was the only thing that he could do to let out his mixed up emotion. Plus he didn't think Kairi was going to come over his house for a while after that kiss…

_'God that amazing kiss…that kiss that might've ruined our friendship!_' Sora thought as his fist came banging down on the table, _'Why'd I have to go around and act like a horny jerk?_' Sora lectured to himself. Sure the kiss wasn't his fault, but the fact that he didn't push her off or the fact that he just decided to let his tongue roll over her lips…that definitely wasn't a good idea.

_'But man she tasted so good…I just wish…_' Sora trailed his thoughts off and decided to get back to writing. He shouldn't keep dwelling on the past. He should get up and do something to fix his future. He wasn't about to let their friendship die away.

**No way in hell.**

He had been writing for most of last night, so he barely got any sleep, but he still felt wide-awake with the emotion he held for Kairi. His inspiration had carried on to the morning and he kept typing right when he woke up until this very moment.

_'Enough typing already man! You have to go out there and tell Kairi the truth that you're in love with her…_' Sora thought to himself. _'Whoa…one step at a time. Let's just try to get our friendship back and then go to the whole relationship step.'_

Sora started pacing around in his room and tried to think of something to say to Kairi.

"Kairi I'm sorry I didn't pull back…it's just that…I think I love you," Sora muttered to himself in the mirror. "NO THAT'S TOO STRAIGHT FORWARD!" Sora shouted to himself. He started to pace around again. "Look Kairi I'm sorry I didn't pull back when we kissed I was just so much in shock and oh…about licking your lips. I was just curious, but you do taste good," Sora said as he threw his hands in the air in defeat, but he knocked over this huge book on his desk, which he never noticed was there.

**It was a photo album**.

"Whoa this thing's way dusty!" Sora commented as he started to try to wipe away the dust from the book. He then opened it and started flipping the pages.

There was a picture of him right when he was born and of course a picture of his first bath. But as he skimmed through the pages he realized that there were so many pictures of him and Kairi. There was that picture of him and Kairi when they were taking a bath and Kairi was splashing the water innocently. It was just so cute.

Then there was a picture of when they were 6-years-old and they were under the mistletoe.

"Oh…I remember this. How could I have forgotten it?" Sora wondered out loud as he stared at the picture. In the picture it was Sora and Kairi, while they were sharing one, small, innocent kiss. In the picture Kairi's eyes were wide open, but you could still see a small smile and a blush on her cheeks. Her back was angled backwards a bit. Sora on the other hand had his eyes closed and was leaning forward with his hands behind his back. He was still blushing though.

_'Oh yeah…it was Christmas and I remember mom kept telling me that if you're under a mistletoe you have to kiss that person and I just remember that Kairi and I were wandering around. Then we stopped because we were staring at the Christmas tree, which was a few feet away from the mistletoe and we were right under it! And mom's stupid annoying voice kept running through my head so I turned her around and I remember just kissing her quickly. Mom was stalking me with her camera and she managed to get this on film. So I guess I was technically her first kiss and always will be,'_ Sora thought as he smiled. He took the picture out of the photo album and placed it neatly in his over sized pockets. _'This might come in handy later.'_

"Knock. Knock. Knock." There were three quiet knocks on the door, but Sora had barely heard them. He originally thought it might've been a bird hitting the door, but could birds slam into a door three times in a row?

_'Okay come on you have to go visit Kai! Stop stalling! Let's get a move on it!_' Sora commanded to himself. He rushed down the hallway and toward the front door, but he realized he was still carrying some unimportant items. He had a piece of paper (notes from his story), and a pencil stuck in his hair since it kept falling off his ear he thought it would've stayed in his hair instead. He was planning to keep the picture in his pocket just for good luck, but he didn't need the pencil or the paper. That was just ridiculous.

_'It's too late to put it back. Just throw it on the floor or something! Now open the door…_' Sora took 3 deep breaths and opened the door to prepare to walk out the door and visit Kairi, but what was in front of him he did not expect…

**Kairi**. She was right in front of him. Well, her back was turned away from him, but she was there with her huge duffle bag. Her head was tilted downwards and she was walking away from the door.

_'She's…here?'_ Sora thought, _'Well don't just stand there! CALL HER BACK!_'

"Ka—Kai?" Sora whispered in shock. Kairi's head bolted up, but she didn't turn around at first. She seemed to be contemplating over something at first, but then she slowly turned around and her eyes met his. 

"Y—yeah?" Kairi stammered.

"Y—you…ca—came," Sora stuttered. _'She still came for the sleepover! She didn't cancel on me! Things are kind of back to normal! SCORE! All I have to do is act like the kiss never happened…'_ Sora told himself.

"I promised a…sl—sleepover didn't I? So I…well I came," Kairi stuttered. _'Get a hold of yourself Kairi. Don't act too nervous. ACT NORMAL!_' Kairi commanded to herself, but easier said than done.

"I just thought…" Sora trailed off, but immediately shut his mouth. He wasn't going to bring up that kiss. **He couldn't.** "Co—come in."

"Thanks," Kairi thanked as she walked in.

"Need…umm…need a hand?" Sora offered.

"No, no it's okay…" Kairi replied. Usually Sora would ignore Kairi's answer and just swoop the bag AND her up to his room so they could hang out, but today was different. It was well…

**Awkward**.

Kairi placed her bags in Sora's room and looked around for Mrs. Hikari. She promised her mom she'd tell Mrs. Hikari about that stupid, secret recipe.

"Where's your mom?" Kairi asked nervously.

"Ohh…uhh…I forgot to tell her about the sleepover cause I wasn't sure if you were coming. She won't be back until like 3:30 in the morning cause she has the night shift tonight at work…" Sora explained. Kairi looked at the clock. It read…**6:49**. She still had almost **9 WHOLE HOURS **with Sora!

"Will she get mad that I'm over?" Kairi questioned as she grabbed her bag again, "Cause if she's mad I'll go back home. I mean I don't want to get you in trouble or anything—"

"No! Don't worry about it! Calm down Kai. It's cool. My mom loves you. Plus I come over your house all the time without calling. My mom wouldn't care if you slept over and I forgot to tell her," Sora reassured as he grabbed Kairi's bag and put it back down.

"So uhh…what do you want to do?" Kairi walked over and sat on the bed. _'Remember…act natural. It's not that hard. Things are already starting to lighten up_,' Kairi thought.

"Well I don't know. Whatever really. Let's just do the usual," Sora suggested. _'Okay, Sora, remember to act normal. This is just an ordinary sleepover with Kai,'_ Sora reminded himself.

"How about we make cookies and then watch a funny movie tonight? We could eat the cookies while we watch the movie and it only takes like 10 minutes to make them.

"Alright! Sounds like a plan!" Sora exclaimed smiling, "Oh did you eat dinner?" Sora asked.

"Umm…" Kairi's stomach growled extremely loudly.

"Apparently, not. I have some leftovers on the table. Want some?" Sora suggested.

"Sure!" Kairi answered. _'Things are really starting to lighten up! Maybe we can go on and pretend like the kiss seriously never happened…_

But…do I want that? That's wrong. Eventually we have to face the facts. Right…?' Kairi wondered. She shook the thoughts out of her head once again and walked to the kitchen to eat the leftovers. She wasn't that hungry, considering the fact that she was almost having a nervous breakdown 10 minutes ago, so her stomach was the least of her worries. She still tried to scarf down as much food as possible.

"Hey Kai! I have those ready to make cookies! We just stick them in the toaster oven and badabing-badaboom! We have ourselves a batch of cookies! Let's make 20!" Sora suggested hungrily as he started placing the pre-made cookies on the pan.

"Sora!" Kairi scolded. She took her small plastic container, where the leftover was before she finished it, and threw it away.

"Aww, but Kai I'm hungry!" Sora explained. _'Wow…we're acting all normal for once…! No more awkwardness!'_ Sora smiled to himself. _'Maybe we should snack on something before we bake on the cookies! Mom bought some Hershey kisses yesterday and I know Kai loves them!'_ Sora reached into the cabinet and pulled out a bag of Hershey kisses. "Kai! I have a treat for you!"

"YAY! SORA PASS ME A KISS!" Kairi asked hyperly, but froze when she realized what she said. '_Oh…crap…_' Kairi thought. It was normal for Kairi to call Hershey kisses, a kiss. _'So much for no more awkwardness. Great job Kairi. Screw it all up,'_ Kairi started mentally kicking herself.

"Uhh…" Sora stammered. His hand went behind his neck and he started rubbing it uncomfortable, which he usually did when he was embarrassed or nervous.

"I…well I meant…you know…uhh…pass me the **Hershey's** k—kiss…" Kairi stuttered.

"Y—yeah…I knew what you mean," Sora stammered. _'What is up with you? Kai always says a kiss, instead of Hershey's kiss. JUST ACT LIKE THE KISS NEVER HAPPENED GEES!'_ Sora scolded. '_I guess everything's back to being…**Awkward.' **_

_'Great…now we have to start from square one,'_ Kairi yelled at herself, but inside her head, '_Gosh. Go ahead and ruin everything. You are such a klutz and a moment ruiner and –'_

Suddenly they both realized how silent they became and tried to start a decent conversation.

"So uhh—" Kairi started.

"I uhh…." Sora accidentally said at the same time.

"You g--go first," Kairi stuttered.

"Umm…I just—"

"**DING!**" The timer for the toaster oven had just rung, which signaled the cookies had just finished baking.

_'Saved by the bell,_' Sora thought in relief as he ran to the toaster oven and carefully tried to get the cookies with a fork, but unfortunately that wasn't working.

Kairi started giggling as she saw Sora struggle to get the cookies.

"Sora you're not doing it right. Let's just take the foil where the cookies are on and put it on a plate," Kairi suggested as she grabbed a plate and 2 forks. "There. Now we can watch…umm…a movie."

"Y—yeah…" Sora stammered as he walked toward the living room where the TV was. Kairi followed him. They both sat next to each other on the couch and started eating the cookie.

"So what movie are we watching?" Kairi asked curiously.

Sora didn't reply quickly since he was digging up the DVD in the shelf he kept on the DVD's. "AHA!" Sora exclaimed. "We're watching this horror/romance movie. It's just about this couple that's like on vacation on June 6th 2006 and the room is haunted. Room 669, and on June 6th 2006 the 9 flips upside down and the guy goes berserk and kills people! It's rated R for gore, blood, torture scenes, nudity, and s-sex?" Sora stammered as he popped the DVD into the DVD player. (A/N: I got the 669, idea from this movie my friend and I watched so that's not really mine) He stared at the DVD in shock. Were there really going to be scenes like THAT? It was highly unlikely. It was supposed to be a HORROR movie not porno.

"Umm…okay…" Kairi replied shyly. _'It's just a stupid movie. Sora and I had to watch bear's reproduce on the discovery channel for our science project. How different can this get?'_ Kairi wondered.

(During the Movie)

Kairi had the blanket covering her face as a disgusting scene was playing. The 2 main characters were having **intercourse** and the movie didn't exactly censor out the scenes. "OH GOD! How disgusting can these directors get?" Kairi screamed as she heard moans coming out from the screen.

"Eww…did he just--?" Sora trailed off. "WHOA. THAT WAS DISGUSTING. Those people look REALLY into it…"

"YOU'RE WATCHING?" Kairi lectured and stared at him in disgust. Sora just shrugged at her.

"Gees I wasn't watching it the whole time. I just popped my head to see if the scene was over and apparently it WASN'T!"

The moans and panting from the TV were getting extremely loud that this point Kairi thought her ears were going to explode. She couldn't take it. It all reminded her of the kiss. It was so simple and innocent, but it was definitely much more than that. It was like heaven squeezed into a few seconds.

Sora on the other hand accidentally pictured him and Kairi in the movie doing what those characters were doing for a **millisecond**, but he was so disgusted with himself. _'What the hell is wrong with me? I shouldn't think like that. If I keep thinking like that I don't even deserve to be her friend! I'm so stupid. Don't think like that ever again! That's just disgusting. I deserved to get smacked…_' Sora kept mentally slapping himself.

The next scene was when the main character, Kris, wanders back into the hotel alone and nearly gets killed. The lights flicker on and off and the killer tries to stab a knife into Kris.

"AHH!" Kairi screamed as the strange enemy nearly killed Kris.

"Dude. Kiss…I MEAN KRIS. **Kris.** That's what I MEANT," Sora stammered. _'At this rate I'm going to go straight to hell.'_

"Umm…yeah I know what you uhh…mean…" Kairi paused for a second and gave Sora a questioning stare.

"Yeah…Kris is stupid for going back alone and-…okay I'm stupid," Sora muttered to himself. He slouched in his seat in disappointment. He kept beating himself up over how awkward he was acting. Sora started fiddling with his pockets and realized he left that picture of him and Kairi still in there. He pulled it out, but it slipped through his fingers and landed on Kairi's lap. At first Kairi didn't notice it, but when Sora tried to grab it Kairi looked down at her lap and saw it there.

"What the--?" Kairi whispered as she picked up the picture and stared at it. She couldn't see it at first because it was blurry, but when she held it up at a different angle where the TV's light was emanating she realized it was a picture of her and Sora when they first kissed. She stared at it in amazement. _'How could I forget this? It was Christmas and I was 6-years-old.'_

Sora stared at her in fright. He wasn't sure how she would react to it. After all she just picked up a picture of him and her kissing at the age of 6. And not just that…it was in his pocket. She would think he was some sort of stalker!

Sora waited for what seemed like eternity. He was afraid for her response.

Suddenly she broke the ice, "Aww…I remember this…it was when we were 6 years old," Kairi smiled as she remembered the moment.

"Y—you do?" Sora stammered as his words began to jumble up in his mouth.

"Yeah of course I do. A girl can never forget her first kiss right?" Kairi asked. Sora merely nodded. "Hmm…why were you carrying this anyway?" Kairi questioned.

_'Good question,_' Sora thought to himself. "Well uhh…I was looking through the photo album…" _'Great now I have to bring up the kiss to explain myself and I promised myself I wouldn't!'_ Sora sighed and finished his sentence, "Well the photo album actually dropped and I decided to go look through it and I kept thinking to myself. Man Kai and I had a lot of times. No way I am going to just give up our friendship over the…" Sora paused for a second, "the kiss…"

"Uh…huh…" Kairi muttered as she blushed furiously.

"I mean….well I kept telling myself that I was going to go out there and talk to you and apologize for the whole…ya know…but you showed up for my sleepover, which meant that you weren't going to give up our friendship either, but I forgot about that picture in my pocket. I was going to bring it over and tell you that we've already kissed when we were younger anyway so what did one accidental kiss on my driveway mean anyway?" Sora finished and finally let out the breath of air he'd been holding for so long.

"It could mean a lot," Kairi whispered, but Sora didn't hear her.

"What?" Sora asked clueless.

"Nothing…" Kairi replied sadly. _'This is stupid of me. I can't believe I thought things would get normal if we ignored it! We need to talk about it!' _Kairi thought. "Look anyway…you know what. This was stupid of me to try and act like the kiss never happened because that definitely isn't the right way. I can't run away from the fact that we did kiss,"

"Speaking of the kiss. We need to sort it out and stuff. You're right about how stupid you were when you tried to act like it didn't happen, but I did too. I thought it would work. We tried it and look what happened. We need to discuss," Sora pointed out.

"Y—yeah…" Kairi stuttered, "We should."

"So umm…I don't really know how to talk about this kind of thing. I've never really…umm…you know…kissed a girl before," Sora informed.

"Yeah…same…" Kairi agreed. She sighed again…_'Boy this conversation was going to be LONG…_'

"Am I a bad kisser?" Sora blurted. _'Oh crap…I shouldn't have said it out loud! WHAT WAS I THINKING!'_

Kairi's eyes went wide and she stared at him in shock, but she regained her composure. "Well…I think…you're a fine kisser."

"Really…?" Sora interrogated hopefully.

"Yes, you're a good kisser. Not that I really know what a good kisser is. I'm not that experienced in that department, but I guess for a new girl like me…you're a good kisser," Kairi answered quite nervously.

"So you'd kiss me again huh?" Sora teased.

"SORA!" Kairi yelped as she slapped him on the arm.

"I'm just kidding. You know? Trying to lighten up the mood, but apparently the mood's just gotten more abusive!" Sora pointed out as Kairi rolled her eyes.

"What if I would kiss you again huh Sora? Would you chicken out on me?" Kairi asked seductively as she lay right on top of Sora and her palms were propped up on the couch so they were holding her torso up on an angle.

Sora stared at her in amazement and his breathing became so much heavier. She was lying on him…this type of stuff was like uncharted territory for him and her. They were always so innocent and they never did thinks like this. But suddenly things had changed in personality. They began to act more…

**In Love. **Because maybe…they had finally realized it and were ready to embrace it, but just didn't know how.****

He could feel himself craving her so badly and she seemed like she was coming closer and closer and…

"In your dreams Sora…" Kairi jested as she pulled away and started laughing hysterically.

"Hey that's unfair!" Sora pouted as Kairi just laughed harder. "Were you just trying to ignore our kiss conversation by doing that cause you did one hell of a job changing the conversation!"

"Okay…okay…no more jokes….we'll be more serious!" Kairi announced. She crossed her legs, her arms were folded, and her back got straight so she was in a business position. "Better?"

"You know what the hell I mean Kai…" Sora retorted as Kairi slouched and she let out her breath in an annoyed and obvious manner.

"It's just that…I'm so glad things aren't awkward anymore! We're so bipolar did you know that Sora? One minute we're awkward and the next we're joking like usual. I guess it's because we're not watching every single thing we say or do so that it won't be 'awkward' anymore," Kairi giggled.

"You know we're so bipolar, but that's why we're such good friends. We click at the same time," Sora explained logically as he snapped his fingers to add to the effect.

"Click?" Kairi stared at him strangely like he had gone crazy.

"You know. We get happy at the same time and then awkward at the same time. We'll get moody at the same time and then we'll suddenly start arguing over stupid things. We just fit together," Sora replied.

"Yeah I guess…" Kairi smiled at him. _'So we fit together…for some reason that makes me happy…_'

"So about that kiss…it was completely innocent and accidental right?" Sora asked nonchalantly even though deep down inside it was the most important question ever. He wished deep down inside that it was meant to be, that maybe…just maybe she might love him back and they could live happily ever after…

But unfortunately, life wasn't that perfect.

Kairi choked on her own spit. Was she just going to lie through her own teeth and say, 'Of course the kiss didn't mean anything let's be friends forever and you can shatter my heart.' **She wouldn't…would she?**

**Oh, but she did**. "Y—yeah…it was ac—accidental," Kairi muttered. She folded her arms across her chest and started making the clicking noise with her tongue.

He wondered why she was making those strange noises or why she was folding her arms across her chest. But strangely enough…it was because…

**She didn't want him to hear her heart break into 2 at the moment.** She thought maybe making distraction noises would cover up the fact that she could hear her own heart breaking. Was it possible for you or anyone else to hear a heart breaking?

Suddenly Sora's ring tone started to play, which was his favorite song, 'Absolutely (Story of a Girl)' by Nine Days. It was really loud especially since it was right in front of them on the coffee table.

"Umm…are you going to get that?" Kairi asked.

"Nah…I like the song," Sora whispered as he listened to the lyrics of the song. _'I have no chance with Kai ever. Cherish that kiss Sora cause that's the last one you'll ever get…_' Sora thought glumly.

"Your clothes never wear as well the next day,  
And your hair never falls in quite the same way,  
You never seem to run out of things to say,

This is a Story of a Girl,  
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world,  
And while she looks so sad in photographs,  
I absolutely love her,  
When she smiles," the song rang loudly.

"It's your mom," Kairi pointed out as she read the caller ID.

"OH CRAP!" Sora exclaimed as he went to go pick up the phone. "Oh hey Mom! Uh…huh…yeah…oh sorry about that…WHAT!…WHY NOT?…COME ON!…Oh alright…yeah we'll be fine. Okay. Whoa it's flooding? All right…talk to you later…BYE!" Sora hung up the phone and stared at Kairi with a blank expression.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked.

"Uhh…well good news, we're not going to have school tomorrow!" Sora exclaimed happily.

"There's something else…" Kairi looked into his eyes and read him like a book, "Your mom…is she…?" Kairi trailed off.

"It's flooding really bad…she isn't coming home tonight…" Sora mumbled with a blush on his face.

_'Uh oh…things we're starting to get casual. What if something happens between Sora and I?'_ Kairi wondered nervously.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

End of chapter 10 folks! Hoped you liked it!

Only 2 or 3 chapters to go! Waa…so sad this fanfiction is going to end, but the turn out of it was awesome! Thanks to all my reviewers!

I hope I didn't post too late! There were a lot of things going on and my daddy was threatening to delete my stories! HOW MEAN! Well I managed to save everything on a floppy so everything's SAVE!

x3,  
LJ


	11. Chapter 11: 'Unnumb' my Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, but I do own this shirt I bought last week…

Favorite Reviewer of the Chapter:  
XxmylastbreathxX: again your on my list! You want to know why? Cause you keep feeding me with awesome food! LoL! Thanks for the review!

From Previous Chapter:

_"What's wrong?" Kairi asked._

"Uhh…well good news, we're not going to have school tomorrow!" Sora exclaimed happily.

"There's something else…" Kairi looked into his eyes and read him like a book, "Your mom…is she…?" Kairi trailed off.

"It's flooding really bad…she isn't coming home tonight…" Sora mumbled with a blush on his face.

'Uh oh…things we're starting to get casual. What if something happens between Sora and I?' Kairi wondered nervously.

Growing  
**Chapter 11: 'Un-numb' my Heart**

"Kairi?" Sora waved his hand in front of Kairi's very blank face.

The words echoed her head. _'Alone?'_

'Alone?'

_'Gees Kairi get a HOLD of yourself…I mean it's not like you guys are locked in a with a hungry lion. Calm down. I mean…it's not that big of a deal right? Nothing's going to happen. We're already acting normal as it is! What could possibly happen in one night…? Well besides the fact that your heart is broken. You know what? Stop whining about it! You're friends with him and that should be enough! So stop moping about it! At least…we're friends._

"Kairi!" Sora yelled and her attention snapped back to Sora.

"Yeah?" Kairi responded a bit nervously. She stared at her fingers and she felt like she couldn't feel them at first. _'I feel numb. I can't feel anything…not even my heart. Oh gosh this is stupid.'_

"It's no big deal right?" Sora asked raising an eyebrow at her strange behavior, "Cause if it is…well you have no choice to be quite honest, I mean there's no way you can get home if it's flooding," Sora paused in a thinking position with his hand on his chin, "And to think I was actually going to go to Riku's party…"

"Riku was having a party?" Kairi questioned. She had no idea about this. And why wasn't **she** invited? Now she was **annoyed**. Her heart might've been broken, but the fact that her friend was throwing a party and she wasn't invited. That just made things worse. She was officially **annoyed** at Riku.

"Yeah…I was going to go, it was this huge party he was planning last minute. He just decided to have it since his parents were out of town and he wanted to meet some girls and umm…do stuff with them. He said that I was invited and to bring you along," Sora explained.

"Oh…so why does he want to meet girls again? He's like the most eligible bachelor in this school and girls would die to go out with him. Usually he's all picky about, which girl he goes out with. So why is he suddenly throwing a party for himself?" Kairi wondered.

"I don't know. I thought he liked Namine, but I guess that changed…" Sora muttered, but Kairi still heard and it clicked in her mind.

_'Riku coming in from the rain depressed that night…Sora and I left early leaving Roxas and Namine alone…Namine talking to me today saying that she and Roxas are a couple…that's it!'_ Kairi pieced together everything.

"OH! Roxas and Namine are a couple did you know?" Kairi informed.

"They are? That explains why Riku's throwing this huge sex party with lots of alcohol. He's going the wrong way about it."

Kairi gasped, "No wonder why he didn't actually invite me in person! He knew I'd make him cancel and I most certainly wouldn't go to that! And maybe that's why Namine doesn't like him cause he's a spineless jerk that likes to throw…those…**disgusting parties!** Riku is my best friend, don't get me wrong, but he can act like a total lowlife sometimes!"

"He's heartbroken…" Sora pointed out.

"So if you were heartbroken you'd like to throw a party like that HMM? I better hope not cause if you do I'd kill you. You better not be doing that!" Kairi lectured.

"Okay mom calm down," Sora teased.

"I'm serious Sora! What do you do at those…those…" Kairi stuttered.

"Sex parties?" Sora finished.

"You say it so casually," Kairi retorted as she turned her head in the other direction to let Sora know she was disgusted and annoyed. Her arms were folded across her chest.

"Oh come on Kai." Sora reached out his hand to at least touch her shoulder, but she pulled backwards.

"Don't come on Kai me! For all I know you've been to those parties doing god knows what!" Kairi yelled. This was even worse. She was heartbroken. Her best friend, Riku, was almost considered a man whore. Oh and it seems that Sora enjoys attending these…**'rowdy parties'_._**

"I've never been there and if I were to go to one I'd make sure you'd be with me," Sora tried to explain.

"Oh that's so much better. You'd make me go to that party so we could all get raped. Oh much better…" Kairi replied overreacting.

"Kai! I'm sorry! I haven't been to one okay? I'm not into those parties. I'm a virgin calm down," Sora apologized.

Kairi froze a second. Since when were they talking about virgins? This night was just getting even more and more strange. Besides the talk about the kiss, the rated R movie, and the talk about VIRGINS the only normal thing they talked about were…cookies.

This was getting pathetic.

_'Oh this night will be declared AWKWARD night. I didn't even bring up this…oh my gosh…I think I'm going to pass out at this rate,'_ Kairi thought.

"I didn't ask if you were…okay forget it. The point is I want to crash Riku's party," Kairi explained.

"WHAT? Are you crazy? In this weather? It's going to **FLOOD**. We could **DIE!"** Sora pointed out as he enunciated on the important words.

"Oh please? You have legs! USE THEM. Plus we can swim right?" Kairi added.

"That's different!" Sora argued, "In a flood anything can happen and—"

Kairi cut him off abruptly, "It's not flooding yet on this part of the island. See?" Kairi pointed to the window to show that it was only drizzling, "Your mom called to say it was flooding where she was. She lives on the farthest island where they have the worst floods. For us it probably won't flood until like 3 in the morning. It's like not even 12. We'll be back before it rains hard anyway! Riku only lives like a couple blocks down!"

"Kairi, but—" Sora was once again cut off by Kairi.

"Come on Sora!" Kairi begged. She was running towards the door.

"We can't just go to a party we aren't invited to!" Sora argued again.

"Since when you were the voice of reason? And we were invited, stupid," Kairi asked in an annoyed manner.

"Kairi you're not acting like yourself…" Sora informed.

_'Maybe because I don't feel like living the way I was. I never took a chance and so far where did I end up? Heartbroken and lonely. Don't tell me I'm not acting like myself Sora…'_ Kairi argued, but in her head.

"Well how do you expect me to act Sora? Sweet and innocent like I usually act? Cause if you want I'll prove how much I'm not like that at all," Kairi threatened. Maybe the whole heartbreak thing completely changed her.

Sora grabbed her forcefully, "You're not going," he commanded.

She wrung out of his grasp. Her other hand was on the doorknob, slowly turning it. She whispered seductively into his ear, "Catch me if you can Sora." Before he could stop her she was out the door and running to Riku's house. Sora stood completely shocked, but regained his composure soon and ran out the door to find Kairi. By the time he got out she was already out of view. After all she was a fast track runner, but that wasn't going to stop Sora. 

**He was going to find her no matter what it took**.

On the other hand Kairi was running as fast as she could to get away from Sora. She had no idea why she was running to Riku's party in the first place. **Maybe **she just wanted some time to get away from the guy who broke her heart. **Maybe** she needed something spontaneous to do in her extremely heartbroken and boring life. **Maybe, just maybe, **this party was the one thing that would fill up that empty space.

Sure it was a disgusting party, but that wasn't important. The one thing that Kairi wanted was to do something spontaneous and running to a party in the rain, when a flood was coming was what she was aiming for. She wasn't going to Riku's for the party, but for the thrill of running to there. **Did that even make sense?**

Kairi wasn't even sure herself. She didn't know what she wanted. She was numb and she wanted to 'un-numb' herself if it was possible.

She had been running aimlessly and wasn't sure if she missed his house or not since it was dark, but she started hearing blared music and lots of noise coming from one house. That house was obviously **Riku's house**. When she finally got there she was sweaty and tired. She hadn't change into her pajamas luckily so she was in somewhat normal clothing.

Kairi didn't know what to expect when she opened the door so she closed her eyes for a second and slowly turned the doorknob to open it up. When she opened her eyes she noticed that nearly 3 guys had fallen on the floor wasted. Apparently they were leaning on the door or something and she had opened it, which caused them to fall. She rolled her eyes and walked in. She was looking for Riku and she was going to give him a piece of her mind for the hell of it. She might as well since she was here already. She walked off in another direction and disappeared into a different room.

x-x-x-x-x Meanwhile with Sora x-x-x-x-x

Sora had been running at top speed and finally he arrived at Riku's house. He was worried about Kairi. What had cause this sudden change in her personality? All he knew was that he had to get her back home before she did something she regretted. And if any guy laid a single hand on her…

**He'd kill them**. When he arrived on the doorstep he noticed 3 guys lying on the ground wasted.

_'Well that's just reassuring. For all I know Kai is in here doing god knows what!'_ Sora started to panic a little, but remembered he had a goal that he had to accomplish.

_'God Kai where are you?'_ Sora wondered. He saw a flash of reddish brown hair go in a different direction, but there were so many people dancing and making out that it blocked his view. He decided to follow that direction, but it was hard to push through a mob of people.

'_I swear Kai if your hurt I'd kill myself.'_

x-x-x-x-x Meanwhile with Kairi x-x-x-x-x

Kairi walked upstairs and decided to search their first since it was less crowded. She opened the first bedroom door to find Riku.

Instead she found 2 people doing…**something**, Kairi didn't even want to know what it was. But it seemed the guy and the girl was having lots of fun from all the noise they were making.

_'That definitely isn't Riku! God why would he throw such a disgusting party?_' Kairi wondered once again as she began to check every room.

Each door she opened just seemed to get worse and worse. What in the hell were people doing these days? It was disgusting and horrible. If Kairi had the time or if she actually cared about those people she'd yell them and tell them to stop screwing their own lives…

Too bad she didn't have the time to care at all.

There was only one more door left to check and Kairi was actually planning not to check it, but something told her she should. When she opened the door she found that it was crowded with lots of girls and guys. _'I thought the party was DOWNSTAIRS._'

She had to push her way through people, but when she got into the center she found what she was looking for. 

There were a line of girls and Riku sitting on a chair, doing god knows what.

"Who's up next? Who can top what that girl did?" Riku declared as he stood up and cheered for the next girl. Kairi who was extremely mad pushed her way past 5 bimbo girls and stood right in front of him.

"Whoa Kairi. I didn't know you wanted to go—"

"Shut the hell up Riku," Kairi hissed, "I want to know why you're throwing a pointless party. Stop using people!" Kairi slapped Riku on the face hard. It left a red mark, but it seemed Riku didn't feel it. Either he was too drunk to notice, or he was so heartbroken he was almost as numb as her…

**And she actually felt sorry for him for a second.**

"You just don't get it Kai!" Riku retorted back angrily with his eyes shining with tears that were threatening to come. Riku, of course being a guy, refused to let anyone know he was close to crying so brushed them away quickly.

"I don't get it! PUH-LEASE. SAVE IT. You're screwing with your life and let me tell you, you should suck it up. I know you're all heartbroken that Namine and Roxas are going out, but if you were truly her friend, or if you truly loved Namine you'd be happy for her. So stop being a baby about it and start growing up. I don't give a damn about how depressed your feeling. That's no goddamned excuse! Either you end this party now or I call the cops," Kairi threatened her voice almost menacingly low.

"You wouldn't," Riku muttered. He was so drunk that Kairi didn't even think he'd remember what she said 5 minutes later.

"Oh, but I would," Kairi replied. She wasn't actually going to call the cops, but it still sounded good. She wanted to teach Riku a lesson. Kairi was about to walk out the door until he called her one last time.

"Kairi! It hurts…you know?" Riku croaked as he passed out on the floor from so much alcohol. Kairi wanted to go back and help her friend, but she couldn't. Riku would be okay anyway. He'd probably wake up soon anyway.

Kairi sighed heavily and turned back just to check on Riku…just in case. She saw him slowly getting up. _'Knew it.'_ Kairi told herself as she opened the door to leave. She rushed downstairs, but paused for a second as she realized how thirsty she was. She walked into the kitchen in search of water or some nonalcoholic beverage, but it seemed all Riku had was beer and vodka. She looked in the refrigerator to just see even stronger alcohol.

"What could one cup of this do anyway?" Kairi said as she poured a cup of some substance she didn't even know. It tasted a bit bitter at first, but it definitely satisfied her thirst. She then poured a second one and drank the whole cup. Then she took the cup and threw it out in the nearest garbage can.

_'Oh man I feel a bit dizzy, but it's no big deal. At least I can still walk,_' Kairi reassured. She was about to walk out the door when some guy grabbed her wrist.

"Hello pretty lady," the guy greeted his words all slurred.

"Excuse me, but I have to go," Kairi hissed at the guy as she pulled away.

"Oh what a feisty one," the guy 'complimented' as he grabbed her arm harder this time. Kairi couldn't pull away fast enough. This time Kairi kicked him hard on the shin. The guy moaned in pain and tried to grab Kairi again.

"Don't touch me got it?" Kairi shouted, but the guy grabbed her leg and Kairi screamed.

_'Sora where the hell are you?'_

x-x-x-x-x Meanwhile with Sora x-x-x-x-x

Sora took the shorter way upstairs since there were 2 ways to go upstairs on each end of this hall. Sora opened the first door he saw and saw Riku.

_'Is he crying?_' Sora wondered as he walked up to Riku. Riku was on the floor, wasted of course, and looked upset. There were a whole bunch of girls that were surrounding him.

"Riku!" Sora shouted as he ran over to him, while pushing the mob of people. As soon as the girls saw him they started winking at him and sending flirtatious smiles that made Sora want to gag.

"H-hey Sora. S-seems…you and Ka-kairi came to join the…par-party," Riku stuttered weakly.

"Kai was here? WHERE?" Sora exclaimed in worry.

"Sh—she just left…" Riku whispered. "God Sora I made a mistake you know?"

"It's okay. We all make mistakes. You can still fix it! Just close up this party and start fresh. Do you need help? Where the hell is Kai?" Sora demanded.

"I'm fine, but Kairi…uh…" Riku seemed to be thinking where she went, "She…went downstairs. I think…sh—she was going to leave. You know Sora? You have a great thing down there. You have to grab it before it's gon—" Riku started coughing and a whole bunch of bimbos were at his aid, but Riku yelled at them and told them to go home. Riku was going to fix his mistake starting now, but he was drunk so it might be a bit harder than it sounded.

"I have to go find her! Bye Riku!" Sora shouted as he zoomed downstairs. He searched around the living room, but it was so crowded. He then walked to the kitchen, but it was empty except for a couple of guys having a chugging contest. Sora zoomed past them and toward the front step. He smiled as he saw her reddish brown hair, but…

**Some creep was grabbing her leg and he was not about to let that slide**.

"SORA!" Kairi screamed as she tried to run to him, but the guy grabbed her leg even tighter and she screamed in pain. Sora ran over to her as fast as he could.

"HEY! LET GO OF HER!" Sora yelled as he kicked the guy in the stomach…**hard**. The guy got back up and tried to punch Sora, but he moved him and Kairi out of the way so he hit the wall. Sora turned him around and punched the guy in the face. The guy was so drunk that he just fell on the floor from pain, exhaustion, and the alcohol.

"**Stupid bastard**," Sora mumbled coldly as he kicked the guy for the hell of it. He then turned his attention to Kairi who looked just a little bit tipsy. Her steps looked a bit uneven. "Whatever we're going home," Sora commanded as he grabbed Kairi's hand and led her back to his house.

The walk back home was quiet and awkward. No one had said anything during the long walk. It was raining heavily now too. Kairi assumed that the flood was starting soon. _'God I love the rain, but right now I'm kind of hating it._" Kairi thought as she followed Sora's path. While the rain fell on Kairi she couldn't even feel it. The tingling sensation she enjoyed wasn't there…because she was **numb.**

By the time they got into Sora's warm comfortable house, Sora just had to ask, "What the hell were you thinking back there?"

"What the hell was I thinking?" Kairi asked as she created a forced laugh. She slammed the door shut as she walked in.

"YES YOU. You almost got hurt. I told you not to go. If something happened to you then I would've—"

"Would've what SORA? HUH? You know frankly I don't care. Since when were you acting all calm and crap?" Kairi snapped.

"Calm and crap? You're supposed to be calm and sweet and—"

"Oh yes…sweet, innocent Kairi. Of course. Her life is so boring and where does this get her? All hurt inside. That's B.S. let me tell you. My life is too boring. Once in my life Sora, just once I wanted to do something spontaneous. Sure this wasn't the best thing to do. I didn't go to this party to meet people. I came here for the thrill of going there," Kairi yelled.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THAT!" Sora argued back.

"Of course little miss Kairi does. I'm perfect innocent Kairi. Well you know what I have a spontaneous side too, you know?" Kairi yelled.

"Yeah I know you have one! But right now isn't the best time to use it! You're usually so much smarter than this!"

"So your saying I'm rarely spontaneous. Gee thanks Sora," Kairi replied sarcastically, "You know what? I'll prove to you that I'm spontaneous!" Kairi screamed.

"REALLY HOW? CAUSE I DON'T THINK YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO—" Sora was cut off as Kairi pushed him against the door roughly and kissed him hard. She then pushed her tongue into his mouth and the next thing they knew…they were frenching and hell, they'd **enjoy it**.

And suddenly Kairi felt **'un-numb'**. She felt her fingers, her toes, and **of course…**

Her heart.

**Of course Kairi was drunk and had no idea what she was doing**. It was sort of an 'in-the-moment' kind of thing, but they were both crazy and spontaneous…and most importantly…

**In love**.

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Wow that was a very dramatic chapter! I'm so sad to say, but the next chapter will be the last chapter folks! After the last chapter then they'll be an epilogue! I really had fun writing this so I just wanted to thank all my reviewers!

I hope this chapter wasn't posted too late! Hope you enjoy it folks!

x3,  
LJ


	12. Last Chapter: Growing

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Kingdom Hearts 2 or Digimon, but if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, now would I?

Favorite Reviewer of the Chapter: **Everyone.** I just want to thank everyone for reviewing my story! Thanks a bunch!

Growing  
**Last Chapter**: **Growing**  
this chapter can also be called…**Oathkeeper**.****

"Ring! Ring!" the alarm clock rang as it woke up Kairi. She looked at the time on the clock. 12:30.

_'Gees I woke up late today! Owww my head hurts…what happened? Wait isn't there school?_' Kairi wondered. She got up out of bed and walked on the floor with her bare feet. Her clothes from last night were still on and her hair looked extremely disheveled. _'What the heck?'_ Kairi stared in the mirror and looked at her reflection. It wasn't exactly horrible, but it wasn't what Kairi was used to when she woke up. Usually she had her hair tied up and her pajamas on.

_'What the heck happened last ni—ohhh yeah…. Stupid! Stupid! I am so stupid!_' Kairi mentally kicked herself as she remembered what happened last night.

x-x-x-x-x Flashback x-x-x-x-x

_"So your saying I'm rarely spontaneous. Gee thanks Sora," Kairi replied sarcastically, "You know what? I'll prove to you that I'm spontaneous!" Kairi screamed._

"REALLY HOW? CAUSE I DON'T THINK YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO—" Sora was cut off as Kairi pushed him against the door roughly and kissed him hard. She then pushed her tongue into his mouth and the next thing they knew…they were frenching and hell, they'd **enjoy it**.

Suddenly Sora picked her up, without breaking the kiss and gently placed her on the couch. He was on top of her now and his hands were resting on her waist so that he got get even closer to her, if that was possible. Kairi had her hands around his neck in a chokehold.

It seemed they had been kissing for hours, days, they couldn't tell. They had lost track of time, but a very useful substance called…**oxygen** was of great **importance**. Quickly they broke apart to get air, but as soon as they did they were shocked at what just happened.

Did she--? But--? What it…--?

Sora got up and before he could stop her Kairi dashed into the guest bedroom and locked herself in there. She was a mess. A huge mess.

Eventually her tiredness and the alcohol got to her and she fell asleep on the bed.

x-x-x-x-x End of Flashback x-x-x-x-x

_'How in the hell did the alarm clock get here?'_ Kairi wondered. She shrugged her shoulders and dismissed the subject. She slowly turned the doorknob and walked down the stairs. When she got downstairs she saw Sora dressed to go out.

"What the--?" Kairi muttered, but this got Sora's attention and his head snapped up. 

"Uhh…uhh…yeah good morning Ka—Kai. No school today," Sora greeted nervously. He was looking down and for some reason he couldn't meet her eyes.

"Where are you…umm…going?" Kairi questioned as she analyzed his outfit again. Was he going out to hang out with Roxas to have a **'guy-talk'.**

'_Did guys even talk about this kind of stuff?' _Kairi shrugged her shoulders. Maybe he needed a second opinion about something.

"I'm going to go to the mall to umm…" Sora paused as he looked at his hands this time, almost as if searching for an answer, "…shopping."

"Shopping? You hate shopping," Kairi pointed out suspiciously.

"For umm…" Sora paused once again. Then again Sora was never a good liar, "…my mom."

"Whatever…sure…" Kairi rolled her eyes, "Why was there an…umm…alarm clock in my room?"

"I snuck it in…I umm…had a key into your room and I…uh…well I didn't want to let you sleep the whole day, but I didn't want to wake you up early…so…yeah," Sora stammered. "Anyway I'll be back soon."

"Right…" Kairi replied back awkwardly.

"I'll be back so umm…don't go," Sora said, but it sounded more like a beg.

"I wasn't planning to," Kairi stated firmly this time.

"…because…we need to talk," Sora explained as Kairi froze. _'No we can't talk! Not so soon…maybe it's not too late to make a dash for it or…'_ Kairi thought, but was cut off as Sora broke in, "We…well…I need to talk…well…I'm going…bye!" Sora then left the house.

"Well, that's just great. I'm in his house all by myself," Kairi sighed. Kairi looked out the window to see if the flood affected this part of the island. She saw that the water was a bit high, but it was possible to drive through it. The draining systems seemed to be working well on Destiny Island. "I wonder how the other islands are doing. It must've hit them the hardest."

Kairi frowned as she remembered what Sora told her, _"Don't go…because we need to talk."_

_'I know I **have** to stay, but…I don't know how I'm going to face Sora. Although maybe telling him that I love him might be helpful. I don't know if I have the courage to say it though. It's so weird just last week we were innocent, best friends. I mean sure we have our awkward moments occasionally and we do think the other one's kind of hot, but now it's like we can't contain it anymore. We're more attracted to each other. It's like our relationship just keeps on growing and it just won't stop.'_ Kairi thought.

"Sora, I'm sorry for what I did…" Kairi murmured to herself as she started to walk toward the kitchen to see if there was any food. She looked and noticed a prepared meal. It looked a bit too fancy, for Sora to have made it. She then noticed a bright pink card near the meal.

_Dear Kai,_

I hope you like the meal that I did cook. Yes I cooked it, I know hard to believe, but I guess it's sort of a 'I'm sorry' kind of thing. I hope you like the food! I'll be back later. Maybe around 1:00 or 1:30 so don't worry and you can't leave! Okay? Promise me, that you'll be here when I get back?

Love always,  
Sora

Kairi smiled as she lifted the silver lid that covered the meal. The meal was some sort of fancy chicken dish that Sora probably copied off the food channel. There was also a nice bowl of salad in some fancy silverware that Sora probably stole from his mother, but it was the thought that counted. Kairi smiled as she started to eat all the food.

"Mmm…tastes good," Kairi complimented as she kept on eating. When she was finished she washed the dishes and sat on the couch to watch some TV and think a little.

_'Okay…so we made a couple of mistakes, but we can still fix them. Can't we?'_ Kairi thought.

"Ugh…maybe I should watch some TV to get my mind off of things," Kairi mumbled as she turned on the TV, but everything that was on was cheesy soap operas and that didn't exactly help. "Stupid, cable company. They're just putting on crappier shows by the day!" Kairi stomped upstairs and turned to a room, which she thought was her guestroom, but it most definitely wasn't. Instead it ended up being…

Sora's room.

Of course it was filthy as usual. He had his rock band posters hanging up and a few books that he actually read. He had his book bag on the floor with textbooks lying around. It was the same room, but something about it seemed different for some reason.

That's when Kairi noticed his computer was on. It must've been on for over a day because he didn't go on it when she arrived yesterday. She was going to turn it off when something on that screen caught her eye.

_'His story! I was supposed to help him do it, but he never let me! I can finally read it! I wonder why he's so personal about it, I mean it's just a story,'_ Kairi thought as she started to scroll up to see the title page.

"Wait…maybe I shouldn't read it…" Kairi paused and stopped scrolling, "Wow he actually took my advice for the whole 30 page story thing."

_'Since when did a little privacy stop you? What if fate wants you to read it? Plus it's a story for Christ's sake! It's not a diary, or an ancient spell, it's a **story**. I mean he said he'd show it to me after he was done right…? Right? So why not just beat him to it!'_ Kairi reassured as she finished scrolling all the way up.

The title page read,

_**Growing  
By,  
Sora Hikari**  
_  
_**This story is dedicated to Kairi Hana, my best friend, a shoulder to lean on, a smart student, an inspiration, a beautiful angel, and the girl I love**._

**Everything has a chance to grow...people grow...plants grow...hair grows...and even friendship can grow. **

_'Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Did I just read that? That's impossible…or a typo or…maybe he meant it in a friendly way…'_ Kairi tried to deny.

_'Gees! You say you love him, but you deny the fact that in big bold letters it says "THE GIRL I LOVE." Do you want him to sing and tap dance it to you?'_ Kairi's conscience snapped back rudely.

Kairi just sighed and decided to continue reading to keep going on.

As soon as Kairi began she was immersed at the tragic tale. It was a story in the 1900's. It was about one girl named Kari (her real name was Hikari) and boy named TK (his real name was Takeru), who were best friends, but their friendship grew into love. The parents both disapproved of their friendship and their love. Eventually Kari's parents set her up with an arranged marriage with the most popular, handsome, and richest man in town. TK had never found out until one day when he finally asked her out and Kari declined because she was forced to obey her parents. That day Kari found out she loved him, but it was too late because the wedding was in less than a month. Deep inside she wished it was him she could marry, but her parents refused to let her cancel the wedding. At the end of the book she had invited him to go and…

_Excerpt from the story:_

I was sitting in the back row waiting for her to come in. I couldn't sit in the front and watch her get married up close. It seemed like it would take forever for her to come, but then suddenly the wedding song began and the door opened to reveal Kari. She began walking…well it seemed like she was floating.

I stared at her in her wedding dress and boy, did she look amazing. Her dress looked gorgeous on her and deep in my heart I wished that I was the one she was getting married to, but apparently fate refused to see us happy. I knew that if I loved her so strongly I would also be able to let her go, so that she could have a happy and a perfect life because she deserved it.

As she came closer I felt my breath become short and I was growing more nervous. She winked at me and smiled while she was walking. It made me feel special in my heart because I was her best friend and even her soon to be husband couldn't take that place away. When she reached the altar the priest began.

Then there was the typical 'I-do's' during the wedding ceremony and finally the priest spoke loudly and said, "If anyone cannot see these two to be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace."

**Now.** Now was my chance…

But no…I couldn't ruin her chance of happiness...I wouldn't. So I let her go and I became in so much pain, but I had to let her go.

I love her.

"You may kiss the bride," the priest announced as Kari's husband dipped her and kissed her lovingly. She was the most perfect angel in town and I had lost her.

I got up from my seat and quietly left the church. I turned around to see her with her husband and I whispered, "I'll always love you and I'll be waiting." 

This was a lot harder than planned, but I had to be strong and I had to keep walking away from this church.

So much for being strong because I let a tear roll down my cheek.

I remember all the memories Kari and I had. We were next door neighbors and best friends ever since we were young and now we're mature adults going in two different directions in life.

And even though I kept telling myself my love for her will die eventually…everything dies right?

Wrong. I realized my love for her would only be growing. **Painfully growing**.

I turned back one last time and put my heart to my chest, but I couldn't feel anything. Sure I heard the normal thumping, but that spark that was in my heart was gone…it wasn't there…

And that's when I realized…

Not only had I left the girl that I loved in that altar, but…

I had left my heart there as well.

_End of excerpt_

Everything has a chance to grow…people grow…plants grow…flowers grows…and even friendship can grow.

Everything has a chance to die…people die…plants die…flowers die…and even friendship can die.

But my love for you can't die it's **growing**. 

Kairi cried as she read that touching page. Sora had written that.

**Her Sora**, had written that.

The story's romantic plot and the sad twist at the end was enough to make Kairi cry a river. Because…

She didn't want that to happen to her and Sora…she couldn't. **She wouldn't**.

She looked at the last page of the story and read…

_To my Kairi, because together we're growing and I know we'll never die. _

Kairi smiled through her tears and nodded her head as if she was agreeing with the statement.

"We'll never die away Sora…ever…" Kairi cried.

Then suddenly a thought popped in her head, _'Why did Sora make this story sad? Did he think we were going to end up like that?'_ Kairi wondered.

Unaware to her surroundings a door had clicked open downstairs.

x-x-x-x-x Meanwhile with Sora x-x-x-x-x

Sora had been gone for about 45 minutes and was already on his way home from the park. He had bought the most expensive card possible to write he was sorry and to tell her most importantly that he loved her. Just a simple 3 words he had trouble saying, but it wouldn't he hard to write. Sure, he wouldn't have the guts to say it to her face, but the card could do the talking for him.

He wasn't going to screw this up.

While Sora was walking he took out a wrapped present he also bought at this expensive antique store.

When Sora and Kairi were young they enjoyed going to the antique stores and stare at the intricately designed objects after swimming at the nearby local beach. Eventually they were kicked out, but it was still fun to look at all the items, but one item always caught Kairi's eye. It was a star shaped item that was made out of extremely rare seashells. It was called 'oathkeeper' and it was said to keep any promise binded to it. Kairi always had her eyes glued to it, but she couldn't afford it. It was 100 dollars for a 'stupid smiling star' as her parents called it. She told him one day, when she was older she'd buy it when she had the money to. Luckily for her no one had bought it before her…

That is until Sora did today.

He held the box in his palm just to stare at it. He saved up a lot of money for this and was proud of all the hard work he had made.

When he finally arrived at his house he took a deep and long breath to calm his squirming nerves.

_'It's no big deal Sora. No matter what you'll always be friends. Boyfriend. Girlfriend. Best friend. Whatever it is, she'll still love you. It'll be okay. It'll be okay,'_ Sora kept reassuring as he opened the door with a click.

When he walked inside the house, everything was abnormally quiet. Usually he'd expect to see Kairi cooking or watching TV, maybe singing some song that just got stuck in her head, but it was **dead silent**. He looked in the living room, the kitchen, and most of downstairs.

_'What if she left? No she wouldn't. She isn't the type that would just leave me like this…'_ Sora wondered nervously as he walked upstairs, but froze when he heard soft sobs coming from his room.

_'What the--?'_ Sora thought as he slowly peeked into his room to see Kairi in front of his computer crying. '_Oh shit!'_ Sora remembered he left his story on and didn't close the computer.

Sora leaned forward on the door and it creaked loudly, which caused Kairi to jump up and turn around quickly.

"Sora!" Kairi exclaimed.

"Uh…heh…hey Kai…" Sora greeted nervously as Kairi helped him up.

"Oh Sora…I loved your story. You—you're su—sure to Ace it," Kairi stammered through her sobs.

"Oh…you liked…it…th-thanks," Sora stuttered.

"But Sora…why…wh—why…didn't they have the happy ending?" Kairi questioned.

Sora looked at her and answered back immediately, "Because…I thought if they got the sad ending I'd get the happy ending right?" Sora explained, but Kairi's questioning look made him realize he should elaborate a little more. "Well…I know it sounds selfish and stupid, but everything in life balances right? Living and dying. Fire and water. You know what I mean? I just felt if the characters in my story got the sad ending, I might get the happy ending."

Kairi smiled at him and she couldn't stop. She was about to open her mouth and say something, but Sora beat her to it.

"Okay Kai. I-have-something-important-to-tell-you-and-something-to-give-you," Sora rushed all in one breath as he shoved the card and the box in Kairi's hand. Suddenly looking on the ground seemed to be preferable for the two of them.

Kairi started to slowly open the box first and right when she saw was in it made her gasp from shock…

_'Oathkeeper. He got it for me…_' Kairi thought as she felt hot tears coming down her cheeks. She was about to read the letter, but Sora attempted to rush out the door.

"No," Kairi commanded as she grabbed his hand and prevented him from leaving the room. The card in her fingers slipped and fell on the ground.

"But I…"

"I think your little theory of balance actually worked," Kairi stated with the smile still on her face.

"What…?" Sora asked nervously.

"That's right Sora…I think you might just get that happy ending you wanted," Kairi whispered as she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips and this time she was **sober**.

"I…I…" Sora stammered a little dazed as Kairi laughed, but his conscience snapped back and his words started to form again, "You, Kairi Hana, never cease to amaze me, but I think that's why I…"

Kairi's hopes suddenly shot so high that she was afraid if he let them drop she'd actually die right here, right now.

"I love you," Sora finished as he too had a huge smile on his face. He leaned forward and kissed Kairi on the lips, but this time, much more deeper than that innocent kiss Kairi had gave him.

Eventually Kairi pulled away with a smile on her face, but one question still lingered in her mind. "Hey Sora?"

"Yeah Kai?" Sora asked with a dazed look on his face.

"Why don't you change the ending to the story now? I think the story deserves a happy ending you know?" Kairi explained.

"I think I will," Sora agreed.

"And I think I want to get a copy of that when it's finished," Kairi demanded.

"Alright. Let's see if I can squeeze in one last copy," Sora teased as Kairi gently pushed him on the shoulder, "Okay can we get back to kissing cause I know I can definitely get used to that."

"Oh so you're just using me," Kairi teased, "Well you can't get a kiss unless you deserve it." Kairi turned her face so when Sora attempted to kiss her it hit her cheek. "No…no…no…Sora." Kairi waved her finger in the air side to side. Then suddenly Kairi dashed out of the room and started running from him.

"Haha," Sora laughed as he started to chase her. "So I have to chase you for a kiss?"

"Basically," Kairi shouted from far ahead. Sora smirked as he dashed to catch her.

**And he could've sworn he ran 10 times faster**.

Before he knew it they had circled the whole house and landed back in his room in less than 60 seconds. Suddenly Sora leaped and pinned Kairi down to his bed with a triumphant smile on his face, "So do I get a kiss now?" Sora whispered.

"Nuh uh…" Kairi muttered as she tried to resist the temptation to actually kiss him herself.

"Oh well…it's my call now, anyway," Sora smiled as he leaned in and kissed her and Kairi didn't even try to refuse, but Sora pulled away abruptly.

"What is it? Am I seriously that bad of a kisser?" Kairi questioned with a pout.

"No, no that's not it," Sora denied. He seemed to be in deep thought, but then his face started to brighten up and he walked toward the present he bought Kairi.

"What are you doing with that?" Kairi wondered as she stared at him with one eyebrow up.

"So this thing's an oathkeeper right?" Sora interrogated.

"Of course it is, you know that Sora," Kairi affirmed.

"So it keeps promises right?" Sora continued.

"Where is this leading? And yes it does keep promises," Kairi added.

"So I propose…" Sora suggested.

"Yes…? Tell me…" Kairi insisted.

"I propose that we make a promise," Sora finished as he put his hands on the oathkeeper tightly.

"And that is…?" Kairi asked.

"That we'll love each other and we'll be together **forever**," Sora proclaimed, "AND! And…if one of leaves or moves away, we'll give that person the oathkeeper as a reminder to always come back and never forget the promise that was meant to be fulfilled."

Kairi was shocked at what Sora just said, but it made her heart stop pounding for a second so she could hear Sora's heart pounding…

**For her**. His heart was pounding for **her and her only**.

"Promise?" Sora asked. Suddenly Kairi could hear her heart pounding and she couldn't help, but let her eyes gleam with happiness.

"Promise," Kairi promised as she put her hand on the oathkeeper and leaned down to kiss it. Sora did the same.

"Perfect," Sora smiled.

"Oh it's absolutely," Kairi added as she leaned in and kissed him.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"So you failed?" Riku asked Sora as the 5 of them walked home from school on Tuesday afternoon.

"Yep," Sora replied cheerfully.

"And your happy…?" Roxas questioned Sora with a strange look.

"I don't even give a damn that I failed that stupid 30 page essay. Mrs. Oniwa is a hag anyway," Sora pointed out.

"True," Namine agreed.

"And wait…why are you happy?" Roxas asked completely confused.

"Cause I'm with the love of my life," Sora explained.

"Aww…Sora I'm touched," Riku joked as he started cracking up.

"Shut up Riku, I meant KAIRI," Sora shouted.

"Gee Sora, calm down, I knew that," Riku teased, "You practically told us 50 times that you guys were going out at lunch time. I think the world should know by now."

"Don't forget to add when I told you that I have a gorgeous girlfriend," Sora added as he winked at Kairi.

Kairi smiled, "Why Sora are you flirting with me again?"

"And if I am…?" Sora whispered seductively as he opened his arms so Kairi could hug him, but unfortunately Sora was dirty and sweaty from gym class last period.

"Ewww…Sora I can't hug you! We'll get all sweaty and dirty," Kairi whined as she pulled away.

"Not like it hasn't happened before," Sora added with another seductive smirk on his face.

"SORA!" Kairi screamed as she blushed a deep red. Everyone started laughing at the two.

"You guys are just too cute!" Namine squealed.

"And we're not?" Roxas pouted.

"No Roxas we're **hott**," Namine explained as she kissed him on the cheek.

"Ooo…I like that," Roxas assured.

"Come on guys. At least make out when I'm gone! I'm going to throw up if there are 2 couples making out in front of my face!" Riku declared as he made a gagging noise.

"Awww…it's okay Riku you'll find the right one," Kairi reassured as she pat him on the back.

"I better hope so!" Riku declared. "So…we're going to chill like the usual and 'do our homework' as well?" Riku asked, striking up a new conversation.

"Of course," Roxas, Namine, Sora, and Kairi replied back in unison as they strolled back towards Sora's house.

"So how long do you guys thing you'll be together?" Riku asked as he turned towards Sora and Kairi.

"Forever," Sora answered abruptly, "I know it."

"And cause we have this," Kairi added as she pulled out oathkeeper.

"That?" Roxas and Namine asked in curiosity.

"We have our promise…and that's all we need," Sora explained, "Besides love and a gorgeous girl like Kairi."

Riku rolled his eyes and laughed at Sora.

"So together forever huh?" Riku questioned again as he smiled at his two best friends that were finally going out and for some reason Riku couldn't help, but feel proud. Maybe he really was a good person more than he actually gave credit for.

"It's cause we're only **growing** from here right?" Kairi explained as she looked towards Sora for some back up.

"Yeah…cause our love can only **grow**," Sora reassured as he leaned forward to kiss Kairi.

**And how right they were. **

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WOW! IT'S DONE!

BUT WAIT! EPILOGUE WILL BE UP SOON…LIKE TOMORROW or THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW SOON! SORRY FOR THE LONG UPDATE! I JUST DIDN'T WANT IT TO END AND I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO LET THE STORY END! I ALMOST CRIED :(

Oh and you know the card? In the epilogue Kairi actually finds it and reads it and you also see the **new** version of the story!

Thanks to ALL MY REVIEWERS you guys helped me through and really inspired me to keep going and I might even make a new FANFICTION, but after sleepaway camp which is for 3 weeks! (and it has no computer or cell phone! How am I supposed to live!)

x3,  
LJ


	13. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, kiddos :(, but who cares!

Favorite Reviewer of the Chapter: Once again **everyone **for sticking with this story!

Hope you enjoy the epilogue

Growing  
**Epilogue**

"Mama! MAMA!" a 13 year old girl shouted from the top stair of her house. The girl was almost the spitting image of her mother. She had all natural, beautiful dusk colored hair that seemed to be highlighted with brown streaks. Her eyes were a striking cobalt blue. Her haircut was similar to her mother's with it parted to the side and angled slightly. Her hair was beneath her chin and hung gracefully past her shoulders.

"What is it?" the girl's mother shouted.

"I need to go to the attic to get stuff on my project!" the young girl replied as she stomped down the stairs, "You said we'd do it yesterday, but we didn't do it!"

"I'm sorry sweetheart, but I was busy yesterday. I'm almost done making lunch. You know we have guests coming over! How about after dinner we'll do it and if not we'll do it after the guests leave okay?" the girl's mother suggested sweetly.

"So who are the guests coming?" the young girl asked.

"Well you're friend Ai and Haru are sure to come," the mother explained.

"Okay. Well you promise you'll do it today?" the young girl pleaded.

"Oh **Chigiri**, when was the last time I broke a promise?" the girl's mother assured.

"Oh alright…" the young girl known as Chigiri agreed as she sat down in her chair and slumped back, "This is totally unfair though. Spring break and Mrs. **Oni**wa assigns us this huge project about our parents. How totally stupid is that? You know I could totally care less if I fail!"

Chigiri's mother giggled and smiled at how similar she was to her father. They both had a strong hatred against Mrs. **Oni**wa.

"Okay can I ask you questions while we're eating though? Please? It's this sheet I have to fill out," Chigiri explained.

"Hmm…well the rice is still cooking so…sure," Chigiri's mother agreed as she wiped her hands on her apron.

"Okay…what's your name?" Chigiri asked as she began the interview.

"Chigiri! You know THAT!" she scolded.

"Aww, but mom. It's part of the interview just answer it, oh and I need your full name, which includes your maiden name," Chigiri demanded.

Chigiri's mother sighed and roller her eyes, "Okay my name is Kairi Hana Hikari. Happy sweetheart?" Chigiri's mother, or better known as **Kairi** answered.

"What's your birthday?" Chigiri asked.

"This is quite pointless dear, you already know all this informa—" Kairi was soon cut off by her daughter.

"Maaaaaaaaa," Chigiri whined, "Just answer them."

"Oh fine. I was born the same day as your father June 25th. Oh, but I'm actually an hour earlier than him," Kairi added.

"Ewww…so you're older?" Chigiri stuck her tongue out and made a disgusted face. Kairi just laughed and rolled her eyes at how immature her daughter could be.

"Sweetheart it's not like I'm twice his age. We're in the same grade and we're born the same day. Don't have a cow," Kairi teased.

"I wasn't having a cow Ma," Chigiri insisted, "Anyway where were you born?"

"Right here. Destiny Hospital and on this island, in this town," Kairi answered.

"What school did you go to and what grades did you get?" Chigiri asked.

"Well, let's see…I went to the same elementary, middle, and high school you are going to, but I did get very good grades. I was always top of my class, although I can't say the same for your father," Kairi laughed.

"Did he fail? He always yells at me if I get below an 85! Oh my Gosh! He is such a hypocrite!" Chigiri squealed as she realized she had blackmail against her own father.

"He's got good reason to make sure you don't get below an 85," Kairi lectured.

"Where is Dad anyway?" Chigiri asked.

"He said he was showing his latest story to his editor. Having a job as a novelist is quite time consuming, but at least he's mostly at home," Kairi explained.

"Okay back to the interview…" Chigiri muttered, "What's your job? Why'd you choose it?"

"Teacher. I love working with children and I always wanted a nice steady job. Plus I get to see my favorite daughter," Kairi teased.

"Ma! I'm your only daughter!" Chigiri retorted. "Ma! Your soup is boiling way too much!" Chigiri yelled as she pointed behind Kairi to the pot overflowing with bubbles and steam coming out of it.

"Oh dear!" Kairi shouted as she ran over to the stove and turned it off quickly. She lifted the lid of the pot and it cooled down abruptly. "Anyway back to the interview. Whew."

Kairi stared at her daughter, but she just seemed to be in deep thought. The clipboard where her interview questions were, which was usually angled upward so she could write on it, was now on her lap. Her pencil, which was supposed to be in her fingers was now on the table.

"Chigiri?" Kairi called.

"Hey Ma…this isn't part of the interview, but I just have a question…well 2 questions," Chigiri explained.

"All right…I'll answer—" Kairi was soon cut off once again as the door opened loudly and she flinched. A man with spiky brown hair and cobalt eyes rushed through the door. He was wearing an expensive suit with a suitcase in one arm and a letter in the other.

"Oh my Gosh! You scared me!" Kairi screamed.

The man ran over to his wife and picked her up, "The book's going to be published! My second book's published! The guy said it'd be a hit just like my first one! Kai I can't believe it!" the man exclaimed proudly.

"Oh Sora! We're so proud of you!" Kairi cheered as she leaned forward and kissed her husband on the lips.

"MOTHER! NOT IN FRONT OF ME!" Chigiri shrieked as she put her hands over her eyes.

"Oh you're such a fun sucker," the man, known as Sora teased.

"I am so not the fun sucker Daddy. You are the fun sucker," Chigiri teased back.

"Well how about I make it up to you by treating you to your favorite ice cream place later? Huh? HUH?" Sora asked.

"Well…hmm…I guess you're not THAT bad of a fun sucker. Deal," Chigiri agreed.

"Ha! Knew I wasn't. Come on kiddo. You better get ready. Guests are coming over soon," Sora insisted as he rubbed her daughter's hair and ruined a bit of her hair.

"I'm doing an interview Daddy. Do you mind?" Chigiri retorted.

"Oh my apologies! Interviewer Chigiri Hikari is busy at work! Everyone SILENCE!" Sora shouted as he walked upstairs to change into something casual. He laughed while he walked upstairs.

"Daddy is so silly," Chigiri mumbled, but continued with her questions, "Anyway…about my questions…"

"Yes what is it?" Kairi encouraged.

"Why'd you name me Chigiri?" Chigiri wondered, "I mean I'm not saying I hate the name, but I always wondered why you gave me such a different name."

"Chigiri is not a different name!" Kairi insisted.

"I know, I know, but why?" Chigiri questioned.

"Well…Chigiri means **destiny** and **promise**. In a way you were like a promise that your father and I would always stay together no matter what and we'd always love each other. Well actually we already made that promise, but we just reinforced it. We also promised we'd always be there for you and raise you with our best because we loved you. And well the destiny kind of signifies that your father and I were meant to be together. Get it?" Kairi explained.

"Aww that's kind of romantic. Too bad you guys are actually my parents. If you guys weren't then I'd actually think of it that way…" Chigiri commented as Kairi pouted.

"What was your second question?" Kairi questioned.

"Oh…it was just on how you met dad and you know how you guys started dating," Chigiri asked.

"Well…your father and I knew each other since we were born--" Kairi informed, but was cut off yet again.

"**DING! DONG!**" the doorbell rang loudly.

"What is up with today? I just can't finish my sentences!" Kairi pointed out. "SORA! Our guests have arrived!" Kairi ran to the door with her apron on. She opened the door and there are the door step was…

Roxas and Namine. They had been married for longer than Sora and Kairi had, but they were still in love. Of course their two children had joined them for lunch today. Ai their oldest daughter, was 17 years old. She was practically the spitting image of her mother. The only difference was she had the same hair color as her father and she skateboarded just like her father and her brother, Haru. Haru's name was pretty self-explanatory. His name meant 'born in the spring' and he was in fact born in the spring. Haru was 13 years old just like Chigiri.

"Namine!" Kairi squealed as she hugged her best friend tightly. "Roxas!" Kairi smiled as she hugged Roxas as well. "How have you two been?"

"Oh we've been fine Kairi. These two have been a big bundle of joy," Roxas replied sarcastically, but in a teasing manner.

"Haru, Ai, why don't you go talk with Chigiri?" Namine insisted, "Go on."

"All right!" Haru exclaimed as he walked toward the kitchen where Chigiri was. Ai soon followed behind.

"Roxas! How's it going there man?" Sora greeted as he jumped down the stairs.

"Pretty awesome," Roxas answered as he and Sora shook hands and then hugged.

"Namine! How're the kids?" Sora asked kindly as he hugged Namine briefly.

"They're fine. A little bit adventurous, but fine," Namine replied as she smiled at Roxas.

"That's grea—"

"**DING! DONG!"** the doorbell rang once again cutting Kairi off. Kairi sighed and giggled.

"It's okay sweetheart. Maybe you were just meant to not talk," Sora teased as he poked her in the stomach.

"Oh and you are?" Kairi retorted back.

"Maybe…anyway. Just lead Roxas and Namine to the living room," Sora asked.

"Sure honey," Kairi obeyed as she lead Roxas and Namine toward the main living room.

Sora opened the door and right on the other side of the door was…

"**RIKU!**" Sora shouted, "Long time no talk buddy! Now the gang's back!"

"Hey Sora. How's the hometown been?" Riku asked, "Oh and the writing job? I read your book. It was crazy good."

"Of course it was. You can't expect less than the best from Sora can you?" Sora jested as the 2 long time friends walked toward the living room, "How's the other side of the island been?"

"Floods aren't as bad. They've got one hell of a draining system," Riku replied.

"So how'd you get here without getting ripped apart?" Sora questioned casually, "I mean as a job as a famous actor you'd think 'The Riku' wouldn't even make it across the street in one piece let alone the island," Sora laughed.

"Well I pulled a few strings, plus I can't miss this reunion. We've been best friends for what? 14 years?" Riku replied as he counted the years on his fingers.

"Well for Kairi and I it's longer, and for Roxas and Namine it's longer, but starting from our friendship as a group I'd have to say 20 years," Sora answered for him as he did the math in his head.

"My…my…my…have we grown," Riku muttered to himself as both Sora and Riku walked into the room.

"RIKU!" Kairi and Namine squealed as they both ran and gave him a hug.

"Guys! Guys! I already have enough fan girls as it is," Riku teased.

"Oh I see the fames really gotten to your even bigger head," Kairi retorted back and started laughing along with Namine, "How's it going with your girlfriend by the way?"

"Perfect. I was even planning a proposal next week. I'm so nervous. Man how'd you do it?" Riku questioned as he looked over to Roxas and Sora who were sitting on two different couches just chatting.

"Well I hired a fake look-a-like to do it for me. That's the way to go," Sora answered sarcastically.

"That better have been sarcastic Sora because I just accepted a Sora-look-alike's proposal and that's not a good thing," Kairi snapped.

"Well when Roxas proposed to me he took me to this fancy restaurant that I've always wanted to go to, but you have to book like months in advance. He actually booked it and paid for everything. My dream was to sing at the restaurant's huge stage. It was amazing," Namine responded in a daze as she remembered the moment.

"Well when Sora proposed to me it was more simple, but just as important. He took me the cave where we used to always hang out when we were younger. There were scribbles all over the cave and there was this one with Sora and I, which we drew when we were like 4. Then he added a paopu fruit to it and I noticed it and gasped. He then proposed to me right then and there," Kairi smiled.

"Wow. I didn't know Roxas and Sora were such suckers for the whole romance thing," Riku commented with a smirk on his face.

"Well look how far we got with it," Sora retorted returning Riku's smirk.

"AHHH!" a shout erupted from upstairs as swift steps were heard down the stairs, "HARU! YOU CAN'T TOUCH THAT!" Chigiri yelped as she dashed passed the living room.

Roxas gave Sora a strange look, but Sora just shrugged.

"Kids," Riku muttered.

"If you ask me that kind of reminds me of 2 people…" Kairi trailed off.

"And that would be…?" Namine wondered as she stared at Kairi with a curious glance. Suddenly it clicked in Namine's mind and she started laughing hysterically, "Then…haha…we'd be…haha RELATED!" Kairi's eyes went wide as she realized Namine figured out what she was talking about and Kairi too started to laugh hysterically. The 3 adult men in the house just stared at each other and shrugged.

"Women…" Riku mumbled once again.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Namine and Kairi snapped as they're moods switched from giggly to looks that could kill. Riku just shuddered.

"What was all that laughing about?" Roxas asked.

"Well, Kairi thought that Haru and Chigiri reminded her of Sora and herself. So that's why I started laughing and saying that Kairi and I would be related because well you know…" Namine trailed off and allowed them to figure out the blank spaces.

"HEY! My little girl is not getting married without my consent!" Sora exclaimed protectively.

"DING!" the rice cooker bell rang.

"Oh! Lunch is ready! Come on! Let's eat!" Kairi hurried as she shooed everyone into the dining room, "HARU! AI! CHIGIRI! LUNCH TIME!"

The 3 teenagers ran to the dining room to eat.

Dinner was quite chatty. Everyone had something to say about their lives and how they've been. Not only that, but they described current events, trends, and even gossip. It was as if they were all back in high school again except now they had children and were more mature. **Everything had changed, yet somehow the feeling was still the same.**

"Mama! You promised me we'd go to the attic!" Chigiri insisted as Roxas, Namine, and Riku were preparing to leave.

"Of course. After they leave," Kairi replied. Soon the rest of the gang left with lots of hugs and kisses on cheeks.

"Oh I just love having the gang back together. It brings back so many good memories. I loved our childhood," Kairi sighed happily and looked at Sora who smiled back at her.

"Maaaaaaaaaaaa," Chigiri whined once again except this time she was at the top of the stairs right under the attic.

"I heard Chigiri," Kairi called as she climbed the steps two at a time.

"Ma you still have your apron on," Chigiri pointed out as Kairi reached the last step and was near the stairs to the attic.

"Oh." Kairi untied the apron and put it on the stair railing. She then pulled a rope and the stairs to the attic began to unfold. "Now watch out the stairs are shaky so if you feel like something might fall you just run back down the steps," Kairi commanded as she took the lead and walked up to the attic followed by Chigiri.

The attic was dusty and dim. Kairi coughed a couple of times and turned on the lights. There were plenty of boxes in the attic stacked one on top of another.

"So where do we begin?" Kairi asked as she pulled a box closer to her.

"Well I just want to find information about you that's all. You get the boxes and I'll look through them for my parent project," Chigiri demanded.

"All right. Let's begin," Kairi stated as she pulled out a second box carefully. Chigiri observed her mother and noticed she swiftly **pulled something out of the **box, but she couldn't see. Chigiri decided to ignore it and started opening the first box and what she saw amazed her. It was a dusty and yellowish paper that was brittle, but it was at least 30 pages thick. She blew the dust out of the 30 page…whatever it was…and read the title…

"Gr—grow—ing…" was all she managed to speak out loud, but even so Kairi's memory clicked and she couldn't help, but smile.

"What's that you got there?" Kairi questioned her daughter as she walked next to her and leaned forward.

"A story by…" Chigiri trailed off.

"Sora Hikari," Kairi finished.

Chigiri gave Kairi a weird look, "How do you kn--?"

"I helped Sora write that story. Well I didn't really help him, but that was the first story your dad ever wrote and if I may say it was one of his best. It was actually dedicated to me. It was a love story he wrote when he was about 16 and that's where his love for writing began," Kairi explained as she grabbed the paper out of her daughter's hand and read the story.

"What is it about?" Chigiri asked.

"Well…it's about 2 best friends named TK and Kari and they're in love with each other, but their parents don't approve of them being best friends let alone lovers so the story takes off from their. It was originally a sad twisted story, but I think your father changed it…let's read the part where he should've changed it…" Kairi skimmed through the pages and grinned as she found the exact page, "AHA! Here read this."

Chigiri gave her mother a strange look, but obeyed and read the story from where she was supposed to.

**_What the hell was I doing here?_**

It was a night before her wedding night and I knew she'd be alone at the house since it was bad luck for the groom to see the wife a day before the wedding, but why was I here? Did I have a right to be here?

Probably not, but my heart had a right to be here. A darn good right.

I stepped on the front step and attempted to knock the door, but as soon as my knuckles came about half a centimeter near the door I pulled away. I'm getting wet from the rain I have to knock it's a logical reason to knock! Actually it's not.

What was wrong with me? I had mustered up the courage to get to the door now all I had to do was a simple knock and I couldn't even do that? Boy was I coward…

And not only a coward, but a coward going straight to tell at this rate. I was attempting to practically crash a wedding…well not literally, but it was still wrong to just go up to her and tell her I loved her and that I wished I could marry her. That was completely wrong. What if she liked her soon to be husband Davis? Huh? Then what am I going to look like? A complete fool that's what. I'm going to--

Suddenly the door opened and there she was standing in front of me. Kari Kamiya was looking at me with wide eyes. Her hair was a bit messed up and she was rubbing her eyes. She looked like she was almost going to fall asleep, but if you ask me she looked stunning.

"TK? What are you doing here?" Kari asked worriedly.

"I—I…" Gosh I'm doing a great job telling her I love her.

"Come in," Kari insisted as she opened the door wider and allowed me to come in. I froze at first not knowing if I should just make a dash for it, but I figured it was too late anyway so I walked in. "Do you want some tea?" She asked as she cut off my train of thoughts. All I could do was nod as she walked to the kitchen to get tea. I saw her silk robe flutter behind her like she was an angel…

Wait scratch that. She _is** an angel.**_

"TK what are you doing here?" Kari repeated her question as she stared at me curiously. I was sopping wet and I probably looked psychotic or crazy. I refused to look at her eyes and instead found a really pretty vase…really it was gorgeous. It had this intricate design and…

She moved into my direction of vision and I tried to turn away, but she grabbed my face so I had to look at her.

Just great…now she can practically read me like an open book, but then again so could I.

Her eyes showed love and compassion and my eyes reflected the same thing. Did she look at her husband the same way she looked at me? Why does she even bother listening to her good-for-nothing-parents. They're going to screw up her life.

I need her. I love her. So why can't we be happy together?

That's it. I can't ruin her life. So I did the only logical thing in this crazy situation. I got up and walked out the door. She was chasing after me calling my name and saying things, but I wasn't paying attention. By the time I reached the door and was about to leave the house she had grabbed my arm.

"TK…I'm worried…please? Just talk to me," Kari pleaded and god I couldn't resist. It's so hard when she pouts at you and her voice quavers like that. It's hard to make Kari upset because it bites at your conscience you know?

"I can't…" I croaked. It was all I could say as I turned away from her and continue to walk out the door in the pouring rain. Her hand was still firmly wrapped around mine and she too was dragged outside and her clothes clung to her figure.

"TK…I need to know…" Kari begged once again as she turned me around and wrapped her arms around my waist, but still didn't look at her.

"We had something didn't we?" I shouted through the pouring rain, hoping she might hear me. She looked shocked as I abruptly looked at her with a cold gaze. She pulled away slowly and looked down. "Didn't we?"

"…yes…" Kari whispered, but even though it was raining hard, I could still read her lips.

"There was something there…so why isn't it gone?" I begged, "Why is it still here?"

"What do you mean?" Kari questioned nervously.

"Don't tell me you don't feel anything," And the next thing you know I'm liplocking with Kari in the rain and we're kissing like we're already married.

And she didn't even pull away. There had to be something there because I could feel my body electrocute and jump. Even though it was raining…as it cliché as it sounds…I was still warm. Suddenly I pulled away. I needed to know. I needed to read her eyes and see if she felt something.

"You feel it too," I announced as I read her eyes. "It's still there. Why?"

"I--…" Kari stammered.

"Why isn't it gone? Why can't we just be happy together! I thought it would die away Kar, but it GREW. It's growing. And it hurts. JESUS!" I yelled as I screamed at the sky.

"I love you," Kari yelled through the rain and this time she didn't stammer.

"But you're marrying him," I pointed out with bitterness in my voice, "How can you look at him knowing you love another? You're hurting yourself, me, and even him."

"I…" Kari stammered once again.

"Goddamn it Kari! Just throw the rulebook out the window for once. Just for once screw your stupid parents and do what you want!" I shouted.

And the next thing I know she's kissing me like crazy and I'm definitely not one to pass a kiss from Kari Kamiya. 

Then she pulls away and grabs my arm and drags me inside the house.

"Kari! Kari! What are you doing?" I shout, but she doesn't respond. Instead she goes toward the phone and picks it up and dials a number. "KARI!" I shout, but she shuts me up and kisses me once again and I can't talk. She pulls away again and talks into the phone.

"Yes. Hi mom it's Kari. I want to tell you something. The wedding's off," Kari demanded as she hung up the phone. "What were you saying?"

And then suddenly that spark in my heart…yeah it was there again.

"I must say TK I think I grew in love with you a lot as well," Kari smiled and I could've sworn I heard her heart beating the same time as mine.

Maybe our hearts did grow together.

**_End of excerpt_**.

"Oh my gosh mom! That was so cute! He wrote that and dedicated it to you?" Chigiri squealed as she held the story close to her heart, "I want to read the whole thing from the beginning to the end!"

"I'm glad you do. Now let's keep searching," Kairi commanded, but Chigiri reached out a hand and stopped her.

"I think this is enough actually," Chigiri stated as she climbed down the steps. Kairi followed her bewildered. When she reached the bottom of the step she closed the attic.

They walked down the steps in silence for a few seconds, but Chigiri stopped and looked at Kairi, "Ma…who was your first love? I won't tell dad I swear."

"What?" Kairi asked bewildered.

"I want to know who you first fell in love with…you know before dad?" Chigiri continued.

Kairi just laughed and described him, "Well let's see…he has cobalt eyes, dark brown crazy hair, he's a novelist, a great man who knows to have fun, and he's sitting downstairs on the couch probably listening to some rock song from the 90's."

"You mean…?" Chigiri gaped.

"Your dad was my first love," Kairi answered and then added, "And my only love. Sora Hikari."

"ARE YOU GUYS BACK TALKING ME AGAIN?" Sora yelled from the living room in a teasing manner.

"Of course Sora," Kairi yelled, "Oh my gosh it's 10:30! You should go to bed Chigiri."

"What kind of girl goes to bed at 10:30 on spring break?" Chigiri questioned as she raised her eyebrows.

"You do. And you can read your story too so technically you'd be sleeping until 11 so let's go. Dinner took longer than I thought," Kairi commented as she went downstairs to visit Sora.

Kairi dashed down the stairs and went to the living room to where Sora was. She leaned forward and kissed him lovingly.

"Now what was that for?" Sora asked completely confused.

"Chigiri found our story. You know? Growing?" Kairi replied with a grin on her face.

"Did she find oathkeeper?" Sora questioned as he patted a spot on the sofa for Kairi to sit on, but Kairi shook her head and decided to sit on Sora's lap.

"Actually no…I found it first," Kairi pointed out as she let the keychain dangle from her finger. "It's still kept its promise huh?"

"Of course. It was a 100 bucks it better keep it's promise!" Sora exclaimed as he picked up Kairi bridal style and walked toward their bedroom, "And you know Kairi…" Sora said as he walked up the stairs and they neared their bedroom.

"What?" Kairi asked while she giggled lightly.

"I think our love is still growing," Sora stated as they reached their room and he dropped her on the bed. "It's like falling in love again when I wake up and see your face right next to me."

"So your saying when we're 80 we'll be at the peak of our lovelife? That's kind of sad isn't it?" Kairi teased, "Usually the best part of a marriage is at the beginning—"

"Kaiiiiiiii," Sora whined using Kairi's nickname, "You know what I mean…"

"Of course I do. Our love was always growing and I never doubted it," Kairi smiled sweetly at Sora and kissed him.

"But…I think it's time we passed this thing on…it's already done wonders for us," Sora stated.

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked confused.

"We know our love will last forever and grow right?" Sora started.

"Yes and…?" Kairi encouraged.

"I want Chigiri to have this," Sora whispered as he grabbed the oathkeeper from Kairi's hand.

"Oh Sora that's so sweet!" Kairi exclaimed, "Let's give it to her now!" Kairi grabbed Sora's arm and knocked on Chigiri's door, but there was no response instead they heard heavy breathing, which meant that Chigiri had already fallen asleep.

"Maybe we should—" Sora muttered.

"Nonsense!" Kairi whispered as she opened the door and placed oathkeeper near Chigiri's bed on her table. Both parents kissed their daughter goodnight and exited the room. They returned to their room with big smiles on their faces.

"You think we did a good thing?" Sora asked.

"The best…because our destiny is sealed…" Kairi explained.

"Huh?" Now it was Sora's turn to be confused.

"Our friendship has grown, our love has grown to its fullest and nothing can pull us apart now," Kairi whispered as she hugged Sora.

"I get it…" Sora replied back huskily. "Chigiri's love story…now that's a story in the making."

"Remember what we said that day I found out I failed Mrs. Oniwa's essay?" Sora asked.

"That our love can only grow?" Kairi questioned.

**"Yeah. I meant it and I knew it,"** Sora stated with confidence, **"We're so perfect for each other because we grow together, not apart."**

Kairi smiled and kissed Sora on the cheek.

"You know for once Sora…you actually make sense. I know plenty of couples that grow apart and they divorce, but we've grown together," Kairi reinforced.

**And no matter what they'd grow together through the thick and the thin. Growing was all part of life.**

T_H_**E** **E**N_D_  
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sorry if there are mistake or it seems rushed…because well it was. I'm going to sleepaway camp for THREE WEEKS and I'm leaving like tomorrow early so I stayed up until really late to finish it! I'm so sorry if there are lots of errors, but I had to finish it so you guys wouldn't have to wait 3 weeks for a stupid epilogue.

I hoped you guys liked it and thanks for reviewing my story…**Growing**.

I'll be writing a second fanfiction…maybe? When I get back from camp. What do you think?

One last thanks to my reviewers who really motivated me!

x3,  
LJ


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